Pictures Never Lie II Cont'd & less rushed
by MADAM BETH
Summary: FINAL CHAPTER! NOOOOOOOOW UP!
1. Default Chapter

This is a continuation of the story "Pictures Never Lie" I feel that I owe it a reader who reviewed the first part and felt it was rushed…so here you go Woodylover22…hope this serves its purpose!! 

                                    **PICTURES NEVER LIE** (The non-rushed slightly less fluffy version)

     It was really no big deal. Well, at least it wouldn't have been a big deal if I had followed through with my plan to stick Nigel's new long-range adjustable lens camera where the sun don't shine. But then Woody showed up at the office and I lost my train of thought. It happens generally without my ever noticing it. To tell you the truth, a lot of things happen without my ever noticing when Woody's around. Weather changes, phone calls…lanky, hyperactive Tea Bags taking Paparazzi-like photos with their new long-range adjustable lens cameras when no one asked them to. Such was the case on the day Nigel took 'The picture of Jordan and Woody' that began to circulate, unbeknownst to me for three days following the taking of said picture. I swear, I never even saw him outside the door. But three days later, I walked into work to find one of the most flattering, sentimental pictures of myself and…and anyone, I'd ever seen. It literally took my breath away. 

In 'the picture of Jordan and Woody' I was sitting at my desk. I was leaning back my sneaker clad feet propped up on top of a couple piles of paper I like to think of as being filed under "I'll do it later". I have a case file on my lap and Woody is standing behind me, leaning over my shoulder. There is nothing really remarkable about that. Woody leans over my shoulder a lot to look at case files. The remarkable thing is that he is not looking at the file, he's looking at me and I am looking at him. We're practically nose to nose for God's sake. An inch from each of us and we'd be kissing. But as suggestive as the stances from the two of us are, the expressions on our faces are what had everyone talking. We look….blissful….happy….comfortable. We look like we're in love. It couldn't be more obvious. Both of our cheeks are flushed, Woody has that look guys get on their faces when they get caught off their macho guard and I am smiling at whatever cute remark he made. We look like a couple. 

Pulling myself momentarily out of the trance the picture had put me in; I looked around the office, trying to tell if anyone was watching me look at the picture. No one was, but I got the feeling that they had been. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and hurried to Nigel's desk. 

"Hey Jordan." He said deeply involved in a file.

"HEY JORDAN!?" I whispered appalled.

"Don't you 'Hey Jordan' me ya lousy Brit." I whispered angrily. 

Finally, Nigel looked up from the file and looked me over once quizzically before it finally occurred to him why I was so mad. 

"Oh what's this all about? The Picture?" He asked innocently. 

I merely shook my head vehemently in the affirmative. Then he shrugged at me. "I don't see what the big deal is, I just took a picture of you and Woody going over a file," he said. Then quietly added: 

"It's not my fault you two were all starry-eyed and twitterpated like." And turned his attention back to the file he was reading. 

I started to tear him apart again but he interrupted with 'Austin Powers' inspired shushing. 

"Aep…the camera DOES NOT lie." He said pointing at my face and then went back to his file. 

I could only turn in a huff and stomp childishly back to my office and slump into my chair. 

THE NEXT DAY…………………. 

I came to the office somberly and grumbled past Nigel who called after me as I slammed my office door,

"You're mad at yourself not at me! I forgive you!!" and it was ended by the slam of my door. 

I could only slump once again into my chair retreating to the comfort of being alone and steaming off in my head. I thought for a few minutes, my arms crossed in defiance of Nigel's revelation. Then, after realizing that I was pouting like a child, I uncrossed my arms, stood, and began to pace the floor. It was time for some major thinking. 

          Okay, let's think this through Jordan. Okay, so you DO have feelings for Woody and well, his feelings aren't in question, you could see his feelings from the International Space Station. So, I'm happy with where we are at in our relationship. It is kind of like, 'going out' in middle school, yeah, that's it. I can deal with that…walking around on the playground holding hands and saying we're going out. Who would wanna complicate a thing like that? Honestly, people are so stupid sometimes. I think the emotionally closed off, untrusting people like me are the only ones who really know what the hell is up. And as for Nigel's picture? Well, that's a whole separate issue. I can't deny the emotions going on in it. 

I stopped pacing suddenly, as if walking into an imaginary brick wall. That brick wall was a revelation of my own. And it made me short of breath enough to feel I was having a panic attack. I sat down on the edge of my desk, my Adidas dangling just above the floor. As hard as I tried not to think about it, there was only one thing going through my mind.

"Shit." I said out loud as Nigel was walking into my office cautiously with an autopsy request in his hand. 

I just looked up and Nigel's eyes widened as he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around my office trying to figure out what I was commenting on. I just turned my head slowly to look at Nigel still standing eyes narrowed now in anticipation of what I was going to say. I let my shoulders slump in defeat. 

"I'm in love with him." I said and shook my head in amazement. 

Nigel grimaced and strode across the room to sit next to me on my desk. He laid a hand on my head and gently guided my head to his shoulder. 

"There, there Love. You tell Mama Nigel everything." He said petting my hair. I just sighed and stared helplessly at the wall. 

"I'm in love with a guy named 'Woody'." I whined. 

"From Wisconsin, "The _Cheese_ State." Nigel said and I could tell he was grimacing just by his voice. 

I turned my head and mock cried into his shoulder. Nigel went back to petting my hair teasingly. 

"Don't worry, we'll get through this together Jordan. You just have to be strong, buck up, and come to terms with the possibility that your future MAY involve a 4-H membership and bake sales." Nigel said looking out the window. 

This only caused me to fake cry more dramatically and Nigel wrapped his arms around me. 

"I know, I know. There, there now. Would ya like my to get Lilly in for a little grief counseling?" he asked and I pulled back and pointed right between his eyes. 

"NO ONE hears of this! Honestly Nige, I have to deal with my own shocking response to this before I can deal with everyone else." I said sternly still slightly baffled by my realization. 

Nigel just nodded emphatically and hopped off my desk. He patted me on the back. 

"Good Luck, Sweetheart." He said as he laid the autopsy request down on my desk and strolled out the door. I shook my head one last time before picking up the file, welcoming the distraction. 

I sat at my desk a half hour later still going over the basics of the case when there was a knock on my door. Engulfed in the file, I just yelled that it was open and leaned back further in my chair still reading the file. When the door opened, I looked up to find a smiling Woody looking down at me from in front of my desk. I almost fell backwards in my chair but caught myself. 

"Woody! What are you doing here?!" I asked loudly, my heart beating audibly in my ears. 

Woody watched me fumble to regain my composure as I stood from my desk and tried to stand casually with my arms crossed. He pointed to the file laying open on my desk. 

"That's my vic you're about to autopsy." He said still trying to figure out why I was acting more spastic than usual. I grabbed the file. 

"Oh," I said rushing for the door and hurriedly yanking it open. "I'll give ya a call when I 'm finished." I called as I hurried towards the Morgue. 

Woody followed after me and stopped just next to Nigel's desk to call out after me, "Www…Well, can't I go with you?" he asked and looked over to Nigel who was carefully avoiding eye contact with him. 

"No!" I yelled as I rounded the corner quickly. 

Nigel told me later that Woody turned to him and looked back towards the way I went then back to Nigel and asked, 

"What the hell's with Jor……is she high?" he asked a cowering Nigel. Nigel told me that he crumpled under Woody's overbearing glare and just pointed in the direction of 'the picture'. 

"What?" Woody said frustrated because he didn't understand what Nigel was trying to show him. Nigel, opted to remain silent but pointed again in towards the picture as he typed away at his computer with one hand. Woody followed the direction of Nigel's long, skinny white finger to the wall where the picture was. Nigel watched out of the corner of his eye to see Woody's reaction. He said Woody stood in front of the picture for about five minutes. Then he looked self-consciously around the office and rubbed the back of his neck. Oh yeah, we're a match made in heaven. 

          Woody must have left after that, because when I came out of the autopsy, he was gone. I faxed the autopsy to his office. For the next two weeks I never saw him once. I wasn't sure if I was avoiding him or if he was avoiding me. I think it may have been a little of both….

But as it often happens in Boston, Woody caught another murder about 2 weeks later. And I caught the autopsy. Ah, damn. Now we had to see each other. I was in the middle of the autopsy when Woody sauntered into the autopsy room, hands in his pockets like a shy sixth grader and smiled warily at me. I smiled back. And stood back from the body a little. 

"Hey." I said quietly. Woody smiled and returned the greeting. 

"Umm…look Jordan, could we go and talk somewhere?" He asked and looked towards the door. I just glanced down at the open chest cavity in front of me. 

"Sure Wood, I'm sure she won't mind if we slip off for a quick drink somewhere." I said pointing to the body with my scalpel. 

Woody just looked at me sternly. Okay, so he meant business. I nodded and sighed looking down at the body for a beat. 

"Al….alright, just give me a few minutes to finish up here and I'll be out. Okay?" I asked gently and Woody studied my face. Probably to make sure I wasn't going to crawl out the bathroom window to get away or something. He nodded and backed out of the room. 

About 15 minutes later I found him in my office watching traffic out the window. 

"So….where do you wanna go?" I asked as Woody turned to face me. 

Ten Minutes later……….

Well, as if the situation wasn't already heading towards uncomfortable as it was, we ended up at the Pogue Mahone. Dad greeted us both and invited us to sit at the bar. 

"Actually Dad, I think we're gonna take a booth…" I said and he took in the serious expressions on both of our faces. 

"Oh, okay…sure you want a couple a drinks to take wit you so I don't have to botha you?" He asked and I smiled thankful of the gesture. 

He handed me two bottles of beer and I took them mouthing a 'thank you'. He just nodded as Woody followed me to a back corner booth. I handed him his beer as we took a seat across from each other in the booth. I began instantly to roll my beer back and forth between my hands. Woody reached out and held them still. 

"Sorry." I said and cringed. Woody just nodded and took the beer from my hands and sat it next to his. But surprising me, he took my hands in his own. 

"Jordan, I wanted to talk to you…because of….well…because of…" I nodded and looked nervously down at our intertwined hands. 

"Yeah, I know because of the picture." I said. Woody looked up. I figured he would just agree with me and go on with whatever excuse he could come up with to get me to go out with him. But he didn't. Instead he looked up and furrowed his brow at me.   
  


"Actually, no….well…sorta." He said and leaned his head forward to recapture my attention.  I must have looked really confused…hell, I was really confused. 

"Let me explain. It inadvertently has to do with the picture, yea, but the feelings in the picture were there before it was taken. Do you get what I'm saying Jordan? Whether the picture was taken or not was just…circumstantial…if Nigel hadn't been there to catch us…looking…at…each other the way we were….we still would have been looking the way we do in the picture." 

I had been looking down at his and my hands while he spoke. I just nodded when he finished. 

"Yeah, I know Woody." I said honestly and he seemed taken aback by my honesty. 

"You do? I mean…yeah. Good." He said and looked down at our hands together on the table. He continued. "Because, well…I'm tired of playing childish games with you. I've all but to dip you pig tails in ink. I think you should just forget everything your logic and your science is telling you and go with your feelings on this one. Go with what you felt after you saw that picture….because if you do…then you'll have a vague conception of how I feel every time I'm with you." 

He lifted my chin and looked me in the eye. 

"I've fallen for you, Jordan. Despite the middle school games, the teasing flirtation, the walls, despite everything you've done to push me away. I've fallen hard. Now it's your decision to let me know if I'm gonna land safely or fall on my ass." He said and laughed nervously out his nose. 

I looked into his eyes and I could feel tears burning behind my eyelids. I had to regain my composure after hearing something like that. 

"Well," I said my voice cracking weakly. " I don't want you ta get hurt." I said and tried to smile without spilling the tears. Woody smiled and bent forward, planting a soft kiss on my lips. 

"I don't want you to get hurt either." He said and then sat back waiting for my reply.

"You're not really giving me a choice are you?" I asked taking his hands in mine. 

"No. I'm asking you to give me a chance." He said and softly ran his thumbs over my knuckles. I sat for a moment then wiped my eyes and chuckled. 

"Then I guess I'm gonna have to say yes." I said and brought one of his hands to my lips and kissed it. 

Woody's eyes brightened and he nodded slowly. "Good." He said and stood from the booth. He put out his hand and I took it easily. He pulled me to my feet and kissed me softly in front of everyone in the Pogue. I smiled at him as if we were the only people in the room. I glanced around and Dad had his back to us, but I knew he hadn't a second ago. I raised my eyebrow towards him. Woody smiled and took my hand as we walked towards the bar. 

"Daaaad." I said sternly and he turned naively to face us. 

"Yeah Honey?" he asked, without a hint of what he knew just happened showing on his face. 

"Thanks for the drinks." I said placing the full bottles on the counter. 

He took them with a nod and turned to put them under the bar. "No problem Sweetie." He said and I waited for him to turn back and say something to Woody and I. When he finally turned around, he looked us over. I was standing leaning in to Woody's side and he had one arm around me. 

"Don't you two have jobs you should be getting back to?" He asked drying a mug with a dishtowel. I leaned back to look into Woody's face. 

"Yeah, I guess so." I said and Woody smiled innocently. We turned together and headed for the door. As Woody was opening the door for me, we turned back towards the bar at the sound of Dad's voice. 

"Oh, hey kids…" he said and we both turned simultaneously to face him. Ears awaiting approval. 

Dad smiled at us and leaned on the bar with both hands." It's about time." He said and smiled. Woody and I smiled at each other than at Dad. 

"Okay, go on. Get back to work…and how 'bout you stop by afterwards and we'll eat some dinner together?" He said wiping the bar counter with the dishtowel. 

I smiled at Woody who nodded. 

"Sure, we'll stop by around six?" I asked and Dad just nodded and shooed us off. I couldn't help it I trotted back down to the counter and hopped up on the stool on my knees. I reached across the counter and wrapped Dad in a big bear hug. 

"Thank you Daddy."  I whispered into his ear softly. He just nodded quickly, gave my shoulders a quick squeeze and said, "You're welcome Baby." I kissed his cheek and hopped down off the stool running back up to join Woody. He opened the door for me and I stepped out ahead of him, pulling him with me by the hand. 

That night after dinner with my dad, which went really well by the way, I drove Woody to his apartment. When we stopped in front of his building I turned the car off. Woody looked a little surprised. But he didn't say anything. He just got out of the car and shut the door before leaning against the passenger side and waiting for me to walk around. I took a deep breath and got out. As I walked around the front Woody was slicking back his hair and I pretended not to see it, but I let a telling smile flash quickly over my face. Woody stood straighter and I came to stand in front of him. Woody reached out and wrapped his arms loosely around my waist. 

"Come here." He said pulling me into his arms. I chuckled and wrapped my arms around his torso. 

"So is this Goodnight?" I asked breathing in the scent of Tide and starch on his shirt. Woody thought for a second and I could tell he was trying to choose his words carefully. 

"This…is…….whatever you want it to be." He said confidently without any pressure. I regarded this statement for about three seconds then reached up to loosen his tie. 

"I want this….."I said as I began to unbutton his collar and moved forward to kiss his neck and collar bone and finally took his ear lobe softly between my teeth before whispering. "to be foreplay." I said and instantly a wave of warmth radiated from Woody, through the cold, and onto me. He bent his head to rub my cheek with his nose. He kissed my lips tenderly then, with the promise of more to come. When I pulled away, I held tightly to his hand as we headed up the stairs to his building. And after a little necking on the elevator ride, we stumbled into his apartment, the only sound the clink of both sets of keys onto the floor as coats were pushed and pulled off. Woody walked backwards toward his couch. He pulled away from me only long enough to yank the end bar of the couch to drop it into a bed. 

"ooooooo……impressive." I said chuckling. Woody smiled as he undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Then he looked at the bed and wagged his eyebrows at me. 

"See that's the deceiving thing about futons……couches by day…..beds by night…..very impressive." He said as I unbuttoned my shirt and let it fall to the floor. I stepped forward and laid my hands on Woody's bare chest, right over his heart. He laid his hands on top of mine, then slid my hand up his chest, neck, and finally to his smooth lips and kissed my finger tips slowly. When he'd kissed each one, I let my hand continue its upward journey into his soft brown hair. I tousled it gently and let my wrist lay momentarily in line with his pronounced Widow's Peak. Woody smiled and held my forearm to his mouth and kissed the soft underside of my arm near my wrist. When he pulled back, I let my hands drop to his waist undid his belt buckle, which he pulled off when I was done. He unbuttoned his dress pants as I wandered back to kissing his neck. When he had finished with his pants he let them drop to the floor and in a fluid motion swept me off of my feet and laid me down on the bed before laying gently on top of me and reaching for his bedside drawer……

The next morning when I woke up in unfamiliar surroundings, for the first time in a while, I didn't panic. It was probably because I was being held by a familiar person. I turned my head slowly and kissed his freckled shoulder. Woody awoke with a jolt.

"Hmmm…..that tickles." He said and a laugh escaped his nose. 

"What this?" I asked kissing his shoulder again.

Woody covered his eyes from the morning sun and groaned. "No….your hair…it tickles." He said stretching and popping his long frame. "ooooo…ouch…..I think I pulled a couple muscles I didn't know I had last night." He said and wrapped me back in his embrace. 

"You're welcome." I said turning my face to his and kissing the chilly tip of his nose. "Oooo! Your nose id cold!!" I said and rolled onto my side to lay my chin on his chest. 

"ohhh…..you poor thing, I didn't realize it bothered you so much." He said with as much enthusiasm as the remark deserved. But I couldn't let him get away with it. So I smiled coyly and dug my pointy chin into his chest. Woody yelped and wrestled me onto my back. When he was on top of me, the warm black fleece blanket now exposing from his lower back up, I was suddenly renewed with energy considering his position and the way his hair fell in a little bit of a mo-hawk just above his eyes. "That was cheap! I'm gonna have to get you for that later!!" he said kissing my cheek and rolling off of me to hang over the side of the bed. 

I sat up, covering myself with the blanket he'd just partially abandoned. 

"I think you're getting me for that now!" I said referring to the sudden lack of Woody on top of me. He looked over his shoulder and smiled. 

"No, I'll get you later," he said producing his boxers from under the bed. "Because right now, you have to go home and get ready for work." He said sitting up and pulling his boxers on as he stood from the bed. When he turned around I was sitting up with the blanket loosely around me pouting. He looked me over and bit his lip before running a hand through his hair. 

"Or….you know what…..like…you said you have what?…..like, 5 years worth of sick days? You could spare some of them for Woody time?" He said wagging his eyebrows at me. I just stared at him. 

"But…you on the other hand have only been with the Boston PD for about a year……so you can't spare any sick days…." I said putting my bra on quickly and fixing my shirt as I put it back on. Woody just stood there for a second scratched a manly scratch and said something to the effect of, 'your loss' to which I chuckled and laid back for a second to regain my composure. Woody leaned across the bed and kissed me before announcing that he had to take a shower and he'd meet me for lunch. 

When I got into work that morning I passed by the picture and smiled. Nigel was waiting in my office for me sitting at my desk smiling devilishly. 

I smiled at him and hung up my coat. Nigel spun sinisterly in my chair, matching each move I made around the room. 

"Sooo…….?" He said after about five minutes of the shadow game. 

I stopped whatever needless task I was at and hopped onto the edge of my desk. "Soooo……..I could learn to like pie and farm animals." I said with a tell-tale smile. Nigel grinned like the Grinch and put his hand up to high five me. "Give me some love, come on babe don't leave me hanging!!" He said and I leaned forward instead and hugged him. 

"Thank you Nige." I said and kissed his cheek. "You're the best." I said and Nigel kissed my cheek in return. 

"No problem, that's what I'm here for Love." He said standing and heading for the door. I knew he wouldn't be able to resist making some kind of comment. So of course I wasn't surprised when he stopped before opening the door and turned on his heels.

"Alright I MUST know…..What exactly does fresh country produce taste like?" he said wagging his eyebrows at me suggestively. I threw a stress ball at him. "Good-bye Nigel!!" I said and he ducked quickly out of the room. 

The next few months were the best months of a relationship I have ever had. We never even fought once….well except over the covers….but I don't think I had ever been that happy in my life….and then came July…and the night the Drug Store on the corner of Woody's block was closed. I had stopped by on a night Woody had thought I was going to be spending at my Dad's for a kind of father daughter night of drinking and catching up alone together. And Woody, being as disgustingly understanding as he was… kissed me good-bye on the way out of work and told me he'd give me a call the next morning. I said okay and headed off to Dad's. When I got there, he was asleep on the couch. Tissues and Nyquil bottles around him. I smiled and tucked a blanket around him before checking to make sure his air conditioner wasn't too high on my way out. 

I decided that it might be fun to surprise Woody since Dad would remain happily in a Nyquil induced coma until probably about early afternoon tomorrow. I drove up to his apartment around 10 pm after going home to make a quick change of clothes and grab an overnight bag. When I pulled up to Woody's place, I peeked up at his window to make sure he was there. I smiled when I saw the glow of his television against the glass of the window. I buzzed his apartment and a few seconds later I heard his cautious hello over the intercom. 

"Guess who?" I said light-heartedly. 

"Jordan? Is everything all right? What happened to going to your dad's?" he asked. 

"Ah, he's riding out a summer cold by putting himself in a cold medicine coma…" I said and he buzzed me in.

When I got up to Woody's apartment, he heated up some left over Thai food for me which I graciously accepted. We laid on his bed together, picking at the last of the food When I rolled over and inadvertently rubbed Woody 'the right way'. He squirmed and took the Thai container out of my hand. "hey, I was eating that!" I said jokingly and let my hand slip up under his t-shirt. A few minutes later, most of our clothes lay on the floor and Woody casually reached over to open his night table. His hand was spending a little too much time rooting around in the drawer and I was becoming impatient. I leaned back, straddling him. 

"Would you and the drawer like to be alone, Wood?" I asked. Woody chuckled. "Sorry…I just…comin' up empty here." He said and looked apologetically at me. I sat patiently as Woody turned to root through the drawer. Finally he stopped and huffed. He sat still for a minute then turned slowly to face me. He grimaced. 

"Ummmmm…….I'm out coach." He said and flopped backwards on the bed. I just looked at him in astonishment. 

"Are you serious?" I asked sitting up and turning to look at him as he lay stretched across the bed. 

"Fraid so…." He said and his bare chest rose and fell heavily with his breathing.

"Drug store?"  I asked hopefully. Woody shook his head. "Closed. Owner's wife's birthday." He said sadly. 

I looked him over and groaned in frustration. "oohhhh……what the hell." I said and slid back over to straddle him again. 

3 WEEKS LATER 

I was sitting at my desk munching on a package of saltines while going over a file when Woody's firm voice scolded me from the door. 

"Now, don't ruin your lunch young lady, I'm taking you out to eat!" He said and leaned against the door jam. 

I looked up and smiled warmly at him as I finished chewing a cracker. "Actually,"  I said standing and picking my phone up to hand to him. "You're gonna call for some sort of take out for yourself which you will eat here in the enjoyment of my company. I am going to sit in here with you while you some delicious something or other that I will probably be drooling over but won't eat because I have some, stomach virus or something." I said as I munched on another saltine. 

"What the HELL did you just say?" Woody asked stepping forward and taking the phone from me. He hung it up and I sighed. 

"I SAID," I emphasized leaning forward to kiss him. "That I have a tummy ache, and you're buying for one today." I smiled and flopped down into my chair and Woody dropped onto my couch.  

"Oh, thanks for the translation." He said and stood up from the couch. 

"Where ya goin'?" I asked as he headed for the door. He turned on his heels as he walked out of the room.

"I'm just gonna grab a cheese steak or something from the corner. I'm comin' back, don't worry." He said flashing me a quick smile. I chuckled and continued to read the file until Woody came back. When he came into the office, he threw the cheese steak, wrapped of course, onto my desk in front of me. I looked up from my file, went to say something to Woody, and got a whiff of the cheese steak and felt my stomach roll. When Woody realized that I had stopped mid-sentence, he turned to look at me. I was in the process of bolting for the bathroom, my hand over my mouth.

When I returned Woody was lounging on the couch. "Sorry." He said apologetically. I just shook my head. 

"It's not your fault. We now know however that cheese steak has been sidelined until this stomach thing passes." I said popping open a can of Pepsi. I sat down at my desk and noticed that Woody had disposed of the offensive cheese steak in another room. 

"Good to know." He said and sat up on the couch. He pulled a bottle of Pepto Bismol out of his pocket and set it down in front of me. I smiled and he kissed the top of my head. 

"I'll stop by and drive you home tonight…"He said and headed for the door looking at his watch. I nodded, chugging the Pepto. 

I called Woody when I was through work and he was already on his way over. I asked him if he minded stopping at the pharmacy and letting me run in and grab a few things. Sweet thing that he is, Woody volunteered to run in for me. 

"Ahhh…no that's okay….you probably wouldn't want to make this particular run." I said hoping he'd get what I was saying. Woody was quiet for a second.

"Oh, girl stuff and such huh?" he asked rhetorically. "Okay well I should be there in about 5 minutes or so you gonna wait outside?" He asked. I nodded. 

"Jordan, I can't hear your head shake.." He said chuckling. I couldn't believe he knew me so well! I chuckled.

"Yeah, thanks I'll be out front." I said and hung up the phone. Now the panic set in, well some of the denial too, but that had already been there for about a week. Lily walked in just then and I tried to fake being okay.

"Hey, Jordan I heard you weren't feeling well I thought you might wanna try this herbal stuff I…………"She trailed off as she always did when she sensed a wrinkle in the balance of the universe. She watched me as I stared out the window. "Jordan?" She asked trying to catch my attention. 

"Hmmm?" I said swinging my head in Lily's direction. She was watching my face carefully. 

"You okay Jordan? I mean aside from being sick?" She asked coming in and closing the door. I couldn't look at her yet. So I went over to the window and Lily sat in the chair next to my desk. 

"Well……..I'm late……"I said and when I turned around, Lily's mouth was hanging open. She couldn't even say anything. 

"That's what I said." I joked, because I didn't know what else to do. Lily stood finally and walked over to stand next to me by the window. 

"Well…it's……do you…..could it be………do you think you are?" She asked and I looked down at my feet. I sighed heavily and laughed. I didn't know what else to do. 

"Yeah…. I think it's a possibility." I said honestly. Lily once again was speechless. And just to make the situation that much better, Garrett walked in to my office. He saw the two of us standing by the window and I'm sure we looked startled. 

"What? What's wrong with you two?" He asked closing the door and walking over to stand with us by the window…..just as Woody was pulling up outside. Lily tried to cover for me…

"Uh nothing we're good." She said and Garrett could tell she was covering for something. I was too busy watching Woody out the window as he stood outside of his car…trying to balance a bottle of soda on his forehead. 

"That..could be the father of my child." I said and Garrett's head shot up. He's always been kind of like my second dad and it definitely came to a head that day. 

"What!?" He said and turned me by the shoulders to face him. I could only look at him embarrassed. He took a minute to take in the news. 

"Jordan, are you pregnant?" Garrett asked and I'm sure that anyone who didn't know Garrett at that moment, probably would have thought that he WAS my father. Lily just stood back and watched. 

"I don't know." I said honestly. And I was being honest. I didn't know for sure…I suspected yeah, but I wasn't gonna swear to it. 

Garrett huffed and that little vein in his head popped out. He knew it would be a good idea to step back and try to think rationally for a second. When he'd regained some composure, he turned back to me. 

"Are you happy about it?" He asked and I shrugged my shoulder. 

"I don't even know if I AM yet Garrett!" I said. "Can we all just….calm down a little? Guys! I don't even know if I am pregnant!" I whispered loudly. 

Garrett huffed. "Does Woody know about this?" he asked. I smiled weakly and darted my eyes towards the window. Garrett followed my gaze to look down at the street….where Woody still stood arms out focused intently on trying to keep the half-empty soda bottle from falling off of his head. When he had gathered an appropriate amount of data from Woody's blissful ignorance, Garrett turned back to me. 

"okay, I'm gonna go with no." He said and rubbed his forehead. I just nodded sideways in agreement and continued to watch Woody's painful display of his age. 

"Alright, well I gotta go, Woody is taking me home and then I'm gonna try and work all of this out." I said and grabbed my bag. As I headed for the door Garrett called for me. 

"Jordan." He said and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head down on his shoulder. 

"Thanks Garrett." I said when he pulled back. He just nodded. I mouthed a thank you at Lily and she smiled back. "Good luck!" She called after me as I headed towards the elevator. When I got down to the car, Woody's attention seemed to have been recaptured by something new to do and he was apparently playing the drums on the front of the car with the soda bottle. When he spotted me he smiled and walked around to the passenger side door. He opened it for me and I kissed him softly, my eyes filling up a little. 

"You okay" he asked. I just nodded and smiled before climbing into the passenger seat. We drove in silence to the store. When we pulled up to the pharmacy, Woody once again asked me if I wanted him to go in. 

"No, no that's okay really, I can handle it." I said hopping out and quickly jogging to the door. I perused the merchandise slowly, not wanting to go anywhere near the pregnancy tests. I grabbed some more Pepto and a bottle of Rolaids. Finally, I broke down and casually grabbed one of those EPT Pregnancy tests…then because I am a scientist, I grabbed two more in case multiple trials were needed. As I was standing in line I had just reached the counter and realized I left my purse in the car. I looked towards the door about to let the cashier know I had to run back out to the car to grab my money…and as I was placing the stuff down on the counter…Woody walked in with my bag…

"Jordan, you would forget your head if it wasn't bolted on…" He trailed off when he noticed my panicked expression and then the pile of purchases. He just looked at me dumbfounded and I could do nothing but stare back…… 

**_                                     …………….To be continued_** (Dontcha just wanna strangle me right now?) 


	2. Pictures Never Lie: Part 3

                      **Just to refresh your memory…………..this is a continuation of my other Story "Pictures Never Lie Part II….Sorry folks, I don't add chapters, I add stories…..that's just how I work….now the fun part is to see if I get in trouble for it….lol..**

**Disclaimer: Not mine couldn't begin to tell you what I'd do with em' if they were….**

When we pulled up to the pharmacy, Woody once again asked me if I wanted him to go in. 

"No, no that's okay really, I can handle it." I said hopping out and quickly jogging to the door. I perused the merchandise slowly, not wanting to go anywhere near the pregnancy tests. I grabbed some more Pepto and a bottle of Rolaids. Finally, I broke down and casually grabbed one of those EPT Pregnancy tests…then because I am a scientist, I grabbed two more in case multiple trials were needed. As I was standing in line I had just reached the counter and realized I left my purse in the car. I looked towards the door about to let the cashier know I had to run back out to the car to grab my money…and as I was placing the stuff down on the counter…Woody walked in with my bag…

"Jordan, you would forget your head if it wasn't bolted on…" He trailed off when he noticed my panicked expression and then the pile of purchases. He just looked at me dumbfounded and I could do nothing but stare back…… 

……………..I don't think I have ever seen that particular shade of terrified on Woody before and I am not sure I liked it. He just looked from me to the pregnancy tests and back to me. Never one to like making a scene, Woody slowly held out my purse to me. Poor thing, his hands were shaking like a leaf. Not so much that anyone in line noticed or cared to notice, but it was enough for me to notice. I smiled apologetically and took the bag from him. When I had uncomfortably paid for the stuff, I took the bag off the counter and turned back to Woody. 

"Are you ready?" he asked, and I wasn't sure if he meant to leave or to be a parent. I would venture to guess one meaning was for the other customers and the other was for me. I opted to answer the question everyone else was hearing. 

"Yeah, I'm ready to leave." See that's what it's all about. Specificity. He held out his hand and I thought he was asking to carry the bag. I told him I had it as I started for the door and he took my free hand with one of his. When I turned around he was smiling half giddily, half nervously. I smiled and moved closer to him my mouth opening to explain. 

"Shhhh…" Woody said and leaned forward and kissed my lips softly. "Let's get you home first okay?" he said gently. I was moved by his maturity. I should have known he'd be like this. He's all business on the outside but I could see the wheels turning in his head. His words spoke of comfort, understanding, sympathy and control. But in his heart I knew he was as terrified as I was at the prospect of having a child right now in our lives. We weren't making awesome money and I could tell Woody was doing some projected mental math and estimates in his head as we drove silently to my apartment. I could tell because as the minutes passed and the numbers in his head grew, he began to first loosen his tie, and by the time we reached my apartment, his collar was three buttons down. I went to get out of the car but Woody shot around to my side and opened the door for me. He Took the bag slowly from my hands and held it preciously as if the bag itself held the baby. He then helped me out and I let him without a word. We rode silently up the elevator and when we reached my door, Woody whipped out his key and opened the door. He sat the bag gently on the kitchen counter and then went to the couch. He flopped down and let out a breath he had been holding since the store. 

"Jordan….I …" He couldn't finish. I understood. Neither of us had ever been in a situation like this before. I went to the couch and flopped down next to him. 

"Yeah… I know." I said and Woody rolled over to face me and sat up straight on the couch, his eyes wandering inadvertently to my stomach. 

"Jordan I just want you to know that if….if you are…I'll do everything to support…….." I cut him off with a kiss. I took his face between my hands as my eyes began to fill up. I nodded and smiled sadly when I noticed he too had tears gleaming in his eyes. 

"I know." I said, hoping he remembered the last time we had a talk like this. I wiped his eyes with my thumbs." I know you'll always be here for me Woody…and…for anyone else that should come along….." I said looking at my stomach. "But can we cheer up a little right now, forget all of the consequences…..and….try and just deal with taking the test first?" I asked kissing his nose. 

Woody sniffled and nodded pulling me to his chest. "Alright, let's go." He said and took a deep breath before standing and walking towards the bag on the kitchen counter. "Let's do this thing." He said all pumped up and raring to go. I followed behind him as he entered the bedroom and flopped down on the bed to read the box. 

10 minutes later……….

I sat in the bathroom on Woody's lap. He sat on the edge of the tub and we were both dead silent. All we could do was stare at his watch as the second hand ticked slowly along…..

"I feel like it's New Years Eve." Woody said light-heartedly and I turned my head slowly giving him my best,'Are you insane?' look. He was smiling proudly then darted his eyes dejectedly back to his watch when the joke didn't go over as he planned. When it hit the minute mark he jumped up jubilantly and said, 

"My turn, my turn!!" and took one of the test sticks from the cup it sat in on the edge of the sink. I put my hand over my eyes and shook my head. 

:I can't believe I let you talk me into letting you use on of those for yourself." I said and rubbed my eyes stifling a laugh. 

"Hey! I said I wanted to do this together….both of us feeling the same anticipation?…….okay I just felt left out." He said slowly picking up his stick and matching it to the box. 

I shook my head again, but decided to humor him and play along…I watched him swing his eyes back and forth between the box and the stick.

"Well, honey, what's it say?" I said rolling my eyes and glancing at my watch to note that I still had another minute before MY test was done. 

Woody slumped his shoulders sadly. He threw the test in the trash dramatically and turned to face me, wiping his eyes playfully. " I thought it took this time….i guess it was too much to hope for." He said coming to sit next to me on the tub edge. He laid his head on my shoulder. I patted it gently then smacked him once hard. 

"Ouch, can't I guy get any sympathy!!??" he said looking at his watch. His voice caught in his throat as he realized it was time for me to check the 'real' test. I took a deep breath, kissed a now serious Woody once quickly on the lips. I stood up and picked up the little stick. I didn't need to look at the box to match it. There were two blue lines. I was pregnant. I turned it for Woody to see. He stared at it for a good ten seconds. 

When he stood up, I put the stick down on the sink and Woody wrapped me in his arms. We sighed in unison then laughed. When I pulled back Woody took my face in his hands and kissed my lips like he never had before. We stared into each other's eyes for a long moment before Woody dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around my waist. I laid a hand on top of his head and petted him like a cat. He eyed my stomach cautiously for a few seconds then kissed it at my navel. He looked up at me adorably then and I laid his head back against my stomach and we just stood that way for a while. 

That night we just spent alone together. Just the three of us. 

"So I got money on a girl, how bout you?" Woody asked as we lay in my bed next to each other. I smiled and laid my hand on my stomach through my tank top. A warm summer breeze made the curtains do that wave thing. The curtains looked pregnant when it did that. I smiled. 

"Woody? Will you still love me when I'm 9 months pregnant and a whale?" I asked mock seriously. Woody sat up.

"Damn, Jordan! Don't ask me these things until I get a book about….dad's and……talking…..and what NEVER to say to pregnant women!" He said and leaned forward to kiss me. When he sat back a little I laughed. 

"But until then," He said and kissed my nose. "Yes, I'll love you when you're a whale." He said and I bopped him on the head. 

"NO! You're supposed to say 'oh, but Jordan, you'll never be as big as a whale, not even close'." I said and sat up on the bed. Woody decided he could make it better the easy way and just pull me to him and lay back down on the pillows. We fell asleep like that, dreams of our baby on both our minds. 

The next morning I woke up and made a dash for the bathroom. When I came back to the room, Woody was sitting up a sick look on his face. 

"You gonna be doin' that a lot?" he asked and grimaced. I dragged myself tiredly to the bad and fell to the soft sheets. 

"Uh huh…..for a little while at least." I said and curled into a ball. Woody rubbed my back in circles. After a few minutes I uncurled myself and mumbled about taking a shower. Woody opted not to join me, probably a fear of being thrown up on. When I got out Woody was trying on clothes in front of the mirror. I walked around the corner of the glass door to my room and stood watching him for a moment. 

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked coming to stand behind him in front of the mirror. Woody cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders looking himself up and down in the mirror. 

"Well, I was trying to..to find something nice here….for….to. Jordan, what exactly does one wear to go tell a 6 foot 5 Irishman that you knocked up their daughter?" he said. I looked him over then glanced at the bed and his other choices. 

"Wear the blue shirt." I said and smiled patting him on the shoulder. Woody just laughed nervously and grabbed it from the bed. 

"You'll do fine Woody, my dad loves you." I said and kissed his cheek. He just laughed that nervous laugh again.

"Yeah, I'm sure this is just gonna thrill him…wait. But he wouldn't orphan his only grandchild would he?" Woody asked hopefully. I just laughed and started to pick something out to wear for myself. 

We rode in silence to my dad's house Woody nervously unbuttoning his shirt again. I reached over and fixed his collar as we neared the house.   
"Alright now let me do the talking. I'm 32 years old Woody, there's only so much he can say about being disappointed." I said leaning over to kiss him. He just nodded. 

"Okay, okay….you ready?" he asked and I nodded and opened the door. I stepped out and looked in the driveway to make sure dad was home. I spotted his car and looked at Woody one last time. We nodded and he came around the side of the car to take my hand. When we got to the door, I knocked while Woody nervously fussed with his hair and then his shirt. He began to shift from foot to foot as we heard Dad's approaching footsteps. 

He opened the door with a look of happy surprise. 

"Hey! Look who's here! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Dad said and started to walk away from the door assuming we'd follow. I entered first and Woody followed shutting the door behind him. I followed Dad into the kitchen. 

"So do you kids want some lunch? I found this new beer distributor that I'm thinkin' of using for the pub," he said turning from the counter with a handful of little red plastic cups of beer to test. He set them down on the table and I looked at them frightened. 

"Well, what's the wait Jordan, give it a try, tell me what ya think!" Dad said motioning for me to take one of the cups. 

"Ahh….nah, that's okay Dad, maybe later." I said and looked at Woody who's face was slowly turning paler and paler. Dad looked at me suspiciously. 

"MY Jordan turn down a shot of alcohol?" he asked feeling my head for a fever. "What are you sick or somethin'?" He asked and chuckled. 

I just raised my eyebrows nervously at Woody. "Yeah…or something." I said and turned back to Dad who was already messing with something else in the kitchen. 

"Hey, Dad could Woody and I talk to you in the living room?" I asked motioning towards the door. Dad stopped playing with whatever he had at the sink. 

"Yeah, sure baby." He said and eyed Woody cautiously before heading into the living room. He took his patriarchal seat in his recliner and Woody and I sat on the couch together. 

"What do you need sweetie?" he asked innocently but continued to make Woody squirm under his scrutiny. I laid my hand on Woody's knee to calm him. 

"Well…ummmm…..boy this is harder than I thought it was going to be." I said and laughed nervously. I looked down at my hands, now in my lap. Dad reached over and laid a hand on top of mine. 

"Jordan look at me." He said and I did. "You can tell me anything you need to. You know that. Now what is it you need to tell me?" he said and glanced again at a cowering Woody. I looked into his eyes and smiled, the burn of tears already in the back of my eyes. I didn't break eye contact with him. 

"Well, Dad….the thing I…we….have to tell you is that…..ummmm….I'm pregnant." I said and Dad seemed genuinely surprised. He probably thought we wanted to get married. He sat back and sighed heavily, his face unreadable. Then he stood and went over to the picture on the mantle of me and Mom. He took it down and looked at it. I looked at Woody and I think he understood. Dad was telling Mom in his own way. We gave him a few minutes to take all this in. When he finally put the picture back up on the mantle, he turned to us and there were tears in his eyes. I was pretty sure I saw a smile there too in the lines of his face but he wasn't gonna let us get off that easy. He walked over to where we sat on the couch and we both stood quickly and in unison. He looked at the two of our nervous faces and finally smiled.   
          The next few minutes are a little fuzzy, but from what I can remember, Dad suddenly squeezed us together in a bear hug. He kissed my head and then, because it was the last thing he knew we expected him to do at that moment, he kissed the top of Woody's head as well. He patted Woody on the back heartily and when he pulled back, took my face between his hands and kissed my forehead. 

"I'm happy for you baby…I really am." He said and I hugged him. 

"Thank you Daddy." I said and smiled at Woody. "See, I told you he was just a big old teddy bear Wood." I said and wiped Dad's eyes. 

"I wouldn't go that far Jordan Cavanaugh…" Dad said and returned to his seat in the recliner. Woody and I sat back down on the couch. 

"What do you mean?" I asked leaning forward on my knees. Dad looked over the two of us. And finally let his eyes fall to my ring finger. Which was bare. I sighed and started to protest. Dad stopped me in mid-explanation. 

"Now, quiet down their little girl, I know that times have changed but….I'm an old fashioned kinda guy." He said slowly and calmly. I looked around the room for an answer, my mouth hanging open. That's when I spotted the picture of my mom and I when I was little. 

"Oh! Really? Well Mr. Old fashioned, explain to me how You two got married in 63 and James was born that very same year?"  I said and the sound of his name on my lips felt like a curse. Dad shifted uncomfortably for a second at the mention of my half brother. I thought he might try to explain by reminding me that James wasn't his but I could tell he knew I would catch him because it didn't matter that James WASN'T his, only that he BELIEVED at first that he was his father. Dad grunted a dissatisfactory grunt and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Okay, I'll give ya some time to think about it, but I'll give YOU something to think about Woo-drow." He said standing and pointedly punctuating the "drow" with a jab of his finger to Woody's chest. 

" I will be VERY disappointed if my very first grandbaby comes into this world and doesn't see rings on its parent's fingers." He said and gave Woody's cheek a few gentle taps for emphasis. Woody smiled and chuckled nervously. Dad pointed to his face seriously.

"I'm not kidding Hoyt." He said and Woody's smile disappeared. 

"uhh….yes, sir." He said and I laid my hand on his back. He looked at me and smiled. 

"Besides, you two are in love right?" Dad said and Woody and I blushed and nodded at him. Dad rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad of THAT at least, people who aren't sure if their in love shouldn't be maikn' babies eh?" We both nodded and shifted uncomfortably. Their were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before Dad finally sighed and said, 

"So……I'm puttin' my money on a little girl, how bout you two?" He said smiling. Woody looked up and smiled. 

"That's what I said last night." He said and looked at me shyly. Dad smiled and he and Woody shared a moment. I just stood back and watched. 

"So fellas does the Mother get an say in what the sex of the child might be?" I asked folding my arms and raising my eyebrows at them. They looked at each other then at me. 

"Nope." They said together and smiled at me. I just laughed and shook my head. "Ahhh………it's gonna be an interesting nine months." I said. 

The rest of the afternoon went by reasonably uneventful. We ate lunch all together, mostly talking about the baby on the way and how we were gonna afford it. By the end of the afternoon, we, or Dad rather, had decided that we would move in with him until we could save up enough to move into a place of our own. There was also an issue of getting married. I knew it was an eventuality, I've never cared for anyone as much as Woody. It was just a matter of figuring out when and where and how to do it before I started showing. I also had to wait for Woody to propose, that's always a necessary component of getting married. 

We left around 5 from Dad's and Woody asked if I was up for heading over to work to share the big news. 

"Ah, I don't know, I think one a day is quite enough for me, thanks." I said as we walked back out to the car." Woody stopped short a little and walked around to the driver's side. 

"Ah, come on…..we'll just stop by. Let everyone know….They don't wanna feel left out of the loop." He said and I scoffed. 

"Oh….alright." I said and got in the passenger seat. We headed right to the morgue and I told Woody about how Lily and Garrett already knew that I might be and about how they reacted. Woody just smiled slyly the whole way nodding as I spoke. When we pulled up to the building I got out first and waited for Woody to follow.

"After you…" Woody said as we entered the building and climbed the front steps to the elevator. We got on and rode up to our floor. I caught Woody smiling out of the corner of my eye just as the doors were opening. When I turned to ask him what was so funny though, I instead was drowned out by a crowd of voices in unison saying surprise. 

When I turned towards the noise, my eyes found a brightly decorated M.E.'s office. My co-……my friends in the middle of it all holding nicely wrapped presents. 

"Oh my God! Woody!!! I'm gonna kick your ass!"  I said smiling and leaning against him shyly. Everyone laughed and Woody kissed the top of my head and whispered 'you're welcome' into my ear. I smiled at him and turned back to everyone. 

"Hi, MOM how's the little Hoyt- in- the- oven doing eh?" Nigel asked, dropping his presents into Bug's arms to hug me. I chuckled and hugged him tightly back. 

"oh just fine right now, it's those damn mornings were havin' trouble with." I said and kissed his cheek before moving on to Bug. He all but chucked Nigel's presents back at him and put his own down on the table behind him before embracing me. 

"Congratulations Jordan, and thanks for being the person to finally give me a reasonable excuse to buy "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for someone." He said holding up a flat nicely wrapped present. I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Thank you….and you're welcome." I said and was pulled into Lily's eager embrace.

"Ooooooo!!! I'm so happy for you guys! And awwwww…..Jordan is giving us our first little Morgue Baby!!" She said to the room. I grimaced. "We're not gonna call her that are we?" I asked and Garrett's voice interrupted me. 

"So what makes you think it's gonna be a girl?" he asked and I turned to his voice. We looked at each other for a long moment. Then I turned my head to look at a proudly smirking Woody. "Uhhh….well…just a feeling some of the men of my family are having." I said and Woody's smile grew when I called him family. n

I moved forward and let Garrett wrap his arms around me. He kissed my cheek. "So I'm guessing everyone is okay with this situation? Like your dad and all?" he asked looking towards Woody. 

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah…yeah, Dad's doin' okay with it…..he'd like to see a ring on my finger before 9 months is up, but we'll see." I said shifting my eyes at Woody. Garrett just nodded and handed me a shoe- box sized box. 

I shook it and smiled at him playfully. "Guess I should open the Boss's present first huh gang?" I asked and chuckled as I picked at the wrapping. Everyone laughed and Nigel chimed in from where he stood cutting cake on his desk. 

"Yeah, you better start butterin' him up now if you want a raise to keep your little bit in nappies every day!" he said smiling. I just nodded and popped open the top of the box. When I had reached around all of the tissue paper, my hand brushed something soft. I furrowed my brow and carefully removed the object. I awwwed…I actually awwwwwwed when I saw the beautiful little doll in a pink sundress smiling up at me from my hands. It had green eyes,  a few freckles, and curly-ish dark- brown hair. She looked like me when I was a little girl. I smiled and ran my hand over the baby dolls cloth face.

"So is there ANYONE who thinks this kid is gonna be a boy? Cause if it turns out that way, Woody and I are gonna be raising a little man who's VERY in touch with his feminine side!" I said holding up the doll for everyone to see. Everyone laughed and Woody cautiously came to stand next to me and took the doll, turning it over to look at. 

"Thank you Garrett." I said and kissed him on the cheek again. "She's beautiful." I said and turned to take the next presents. I picked up Bug's presents next and since I knew what the little flat one was already, I opened the wrapped box first. 

"Wow, Bug this present's heavy man! What's in here?" I asked and Bug just shifted his feet shyly.   
"You'll have to open it to see, I don't give away the answer to ALL the presents!" He said and smiled as I opened the lid of the gift. When I turned it gently upside down to let the object slide out into my waiting hands, it dropped with a smack of smooth glass to my palm. I turned the gift over and my lips formed a smile.   
"Awwww…Bug how did you find this so quickly? What did Woody call you guys the second we found out?" I said and turned the snow globe over in my hands. It had a stubborn looking Tinker Bell from Peter Pan standing in the middle as sparkles and snow fell gently around her. I remember thinking that if we indeed did have a little girl, she'd probably make that stubborn face Tink was sporting in the globe. 

"Nah, I called Garrett while you were asleep." Woody said smiling and reaching out to take a look at the globe. Bug cleared his throat. 

"Well, I figured that Tinker Bell is kind of a bug so…who knows? Maybe it'll end up being her nickname?" He said smiling. I hurried over to hug him and Bug kissed my cheek.   
"Wow, this really will be awkward if it ends up being a boy!"  I said laughing. Everyone laughed with me as Lily stepped forward and handed me her present. 

"I hope you like this Jordan, I had to pull some strings with my cousin being as I didn't have a lot of time to get this and she works for the company that makes them." Lily said and handed me a large box. I shook it gently and turned to set it on the table and let Woody help open it. 

We worked away the paper like kids on Christmas and I let Woody pop the box top open. He pushed around the paper and smiled when he finally saw the contents. 

"Wow! That's so cool!" he said pulling out a backpack looking bag. 

"It's called a Diaper Dude. It's for Dad's AND Mom's who aren't really into the cutesy, flowery-type diaper bags." Lily said as Woody slipped the bag over my head to hang across me like I carry my purse. I put out my arms pretending to model the bag. 

"So how's it look guys?" I asked. Everyone looked at each other and nodded. 

"Like a Jordan Bag." Garrett said shaking his head. Everyone laughed. "Hey, I can be girly!" I said and everybody chuckled. "Okay, so not HERE so much but I try to be credible in this place guys!!" I said taking the bag off and slinging it over Woody's neck. He adjusted the bag to fit him and seemed pleased with the look.  

I hugged Lily and thanked her for the "Diaper Dude". Finally, I got to Nigel's present.   
"Uh-oh, is there any reason I should be concerned about what might be in this harmless looking clothes box Nige?" I asked. Taking the present slowly from him. 

"Now why does everyone always assume I bought the weirdo present?" He asked and let me take the box reluctantly. We all just looked at him. "Oh, fine then. Let's see how often Uncky Nigel offers to baby-sit." He said crossing his arms but still smiling. He leaned back against the counter as I unwrapped the present. When I had gotten through the wrapping,  I was surprised to actually find a clothing box. I set it down on the table and took off the lid slowly. Then I started to laugh as I held up the little outfit. 

Everyone awed but also laughed. The outfit consisted of a pair of little white booties with a teddy bear dressed in biker gear on them, a pair of black leather pants with a little chain reaching from front to back pocket, a white little tank top with the same bear as on the socks but stretched larger across the shirt, a tiny jean jacket with patches sewn into it holding messages like, "Born to be wild" and "Die yuppie scum!" on then as well as a Boston Bruins patch I was sure Dad would enjoy on the back shoulder. To top it all off was a baby- sized bandana with the thematic teddy bear littered across it. 

"Oh…Nige…we'll treasure it always." I said dramatically clutching the little outfit to my chest. I turned to Woody and said, "I think we should use this in the place of a christening gown what do you think Woody?" I asked and held the tiny biker suit up for him to see. He stared horrified at it and then took it from my hands shaking his head and mumbling something about 'city people' to which I snickered and snuck over to hug Nigel. As I was doing so, I was suddenly engulfed in the embrace of all my friends, Woody on the outermost layer. 

"We're gonna have a baby guys!" Nigel said squeezing everyone for effect. "We're all gonna be aunties and uncles!" He said and I felt my eyes well up a little with tears. 'Damn hormones' was all I could think to excuse my newly discovered weepiness. 

"Thanks everybody," I said looking around our little group hug at the smiling faces of all my dearest friends and dare I say family. "There's no other group of people I'd rather have in my life then you all, I mean it." I said and only instigated a tightening of the hug. After about 30 seconds though, my touchy feely moment had started to pass.   
"Okay, pregnant lady's havin' trouble breathing folks." I said and we all separated slowly. 

Later that night, Woody called his family back home in Wisconsin to let them know he'd be back to visit soon with a surprise. 

"Yeah…yeah mom…no I'm not gonna tell you what it is….well…yeah…..okay…yeah……yes it DOES have to do with Jordan…..NO!….You'll just have to wait…….2 weeks….uh huh…..yes…yes…you can meet us at the airport…..uh huh….uh.huh……..yeah I'll call and give you the flight information. …….Okay…..alright…..say hi to Dad and the rest of the kids for me…..okay…….bye Mom."he said and held out the phone with a roll of his eyes to me. I chuckled and called from across the room,

"Bye Mrs. Hoyt!!" To which Woody rolled his eyes again and said good-bye one last time before hanging up the phone…….

                                                               **Next edititon………."Meet the Hoyts"…..Jordan and Woody travel to Woody's hometown and meet the family and friends….as well as a few enemies…..who Woody grew up with…..**


	3. Pictures Never Lie Part 4Meet the Hoyts'

Pictures Never Lie: Part 4: Meet the Hoyts 

Well, here is some more as promised…

All together now……Not mine, can't begin to tell you what I would do with em' if they were!

Summary: Woody takes Jordan to Wisconsin to officially meet his family and share the big news about the baby. They meet some familiar faces from Woody's past as well…..and Jordan learns what was behind Woody's claim that he could be complicated too……..

Pictures Never Lie: Part 4: Meet the Hoyts 

            "Woody, be a pal and get my bag down from the overhead compartment." I said stretching and popping in my seat on the plane. Woody sighed and stood. As he reached up to get my bag I slapped him on the butt playfully. "Thanks Tiger." I said and he smacked my knee playfully back. He was nervous about his family meeting me for the first time. And a big family it was. I went over everyone's names in my head trying to get them all straight. Okay, first there was his Mom and Dad, easy enough, Mr. And Mrs. Hoyt. I was sure they'd make me call them by their first names though. Then he had a slew of younger siblings. Woody is the oldest, go figure. There was his brother Charlie, who was 24, 5 years younger than Woody and very similar in looks. After Charlie was another brother named Matty who was 18, then right behind Matty was a sister, Chrissy, who was 17. And last but certainly not least is what Woody's Mom calls "her little change of life surprise", John, 5. As we were walking off of the little plane and onto the runway, we spotted a crowd of anxious on lookers waiting by the gate to the runway. I assumed it was the Hoyts. We walked down the steps of the plane and as we neared the gate to Mitchell Field, little John came running out yelling "Woody! Woody! Woody!" I turned to Woody.

"So I'm gonna take a leap and assume that's your little brother John?" I asked as Woody gently let go of my hand. He ran ahead of me a little and swept up the chubby little brown haired boy. Woody threw his brother upside-down over his shoulder and began to tickle him as I caught up with them. John turned his head to have a better view of me. "How come you have a boy name?" He asked without introduction. Woody flipped him back over and continued walking with me along side them. 

"John.." Woody said embarrassed and his face turned a little red. "Sorry Jordan, he's one of a long line of painfully shy boys." Woody said winking at me. John perched himself on Woody's hip and wrapped his chubby little arms around Woody's neck. Woody kissed the little boy's cheek and then with one hand squeezed the pair together. "Goodness! Look at how chubby these cheeks are getting!" Woody said and John pulled Woody's one hand away with both of his own. "Yeah, Mama said that their almost as FAT as yours used to be! But I'm gonna be big and tall and a detetive like you one day right Wood!?" John asked all but oblivious to me now. 

"That's right pal." Woody said letting the boy drop down to the ground as I chuckled at his remark about Woody's adolescent chubbiness. I imagined Woody must have looked much the same as John when he was five. As I was ruminating on this, we finally reached the spot where the rest of Woody's family stood. Woody put his arm proudly around me. Everyone stood expectantly waiting for introductions to be made. Woody placed our bags down and cleared his throat. 

"Ummm…….everybody this is Jordan." He said and I was greeted by six "Woody-smiles". I couldn't help smiling back. 

"She got a boys name." John said. Everyone laughed and Woody's mom hurried forward to hug me. 

"Oh hi sweetie! It's so nice to finally get to talk to you in person!" She said and hugged me warmly. I had to crouch to hug her. She was as tiny and mid-western- mom-like as I had expected. She had short, curly brown hair and Woody' charming smile. 

Next I was embraced by his dad. I had expected a farmer and that is definitely not what I saw. He had to crouch to hug me for starters and he stood at about Woody's height. He was wearing a short sleeved, collared dark green shirt and a pair of khakis with brown shoes. He had very dark-brown hair,almost black with specks of grey and it was parted on the side and slicked back. I knew where Woody got his hair styling abilities from. They were all just so cute. Next Woody turned to his younger brother Charile. Now there was a cutie. He looked just like Woody but with a little bit of sharper features. 

"This is my little brother Charile," Charlie happily moved forward to hug me, "And he's not allowed to hug you." Woody said smiling and grabbing his brother by the back of the neck to stop him from moving towards me. 

I smiled and chuckled. "Hi Charlie." I said and put out my hand for him to shake. He took my hand gently and shook it. "Hi." He said shyly back.  

When I turned back to Woody he was a hugging the only girl of the brood. She was a lanky, sporty brunette of 17. She reminded me of myself at that age. She hugged him genuinely back and Woody kissed the top of her head. When they turned to me, both smiled.

"Jordan, this is my sister Chris. Chris, this is Jordan." He said. The girl eyed me cautiously, I think I understood the hesitation. Woody was her big brother, she had to check me out first to make sure I was good enough for him. Finally satisfied, she stepped forward and offered me her hand. 

"Hi Jordan." She said and I put out my hand to hers. 

"Hi Chris." I said and we smiled at each other. Woody interrupted. 

"Oh, hey! You know what Chris? Jordan plays the guitar and sings." He said happily and wrapped an arm around me again. Chrissy smiled brightly and her eyes snapped up to meet mine. 

"You do?" She asked enthusiastically. I nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do…" I said and smiled back. "Me too! I mean, I don't play the guitar so well but I'm learning." She said and rolled her eyes. 

"Well, I could teach you some stuff if you'd like."  I said and Chris nodded rapidly. I nodded back and we were now officially buds. 

Next, Woody turned me to his brother Matty. He was about 5 foot 9 and had the same pronounced Widow's Peak as Woody. His face was a little thinner and his eyes were more wide and innocent than Woody's though they were the same pretty blue. 

"And this stud over here is Matt." Woody said and rustled Matt's hair. Matt pushed his hand away shyly and looked up from the ground into my eyes. He smiled shyly and stepped forward to shake my hand. I took his hand and he moved forward to hug me gently. I hugged him back and Woody seemed not to mind. Then I realized that it was because Matty had his exact personality. And surprising enough, Matty would become the sibling I would become closest to. After I was released by Matty, I bent down to little John. He crossed his arms and looked me up and down. 

"Boy, you're tall fer a girl." He said and I poked him in his chubby stomach. 

"And you're short for an observer." I said and by his face I could tell John was searching his memory for the word observer. I stood using John's head for leverage. He fixed his hair and then climbed up Woody's leg. As we headed for the car, all walking in a little bunch, Woody picked John back up and wrapped his arm around me again. 

An hour or two later, we pulled up to Woody's parents' house. I got out of the van with John on my lap and placed him on the ground. He had warmed up to me over the course of the drive and he took my hand as we walked up the driveway. Woody was close behind me carrying a bag and making Charlie carry about 4 bags. We all talked hurriedly as we entered the house and Charlie stood in the doorway with the bags. 

"Hey mom!" he said yelling over everyone. "Hey MOM!" he yelled again and no one heard him. "WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO PUT JORDAN'S STUFF!!!" He yelled and we all stopped talking. 

I suddenly felt hugely more uncomfortable than I think I have ever been. But God bless Woody's mom, she didn't miss a beat. 

"Now don't be smart Charles, you just go put them where they belong." She said winking at me. I smiled in appreciation. I had forgotten how cool Mom's could be. Charlie scowled and headed up the stairs to what I assumed was Woody's room. John pulled me off to see his room and I followed smiling. 

"I'll be back……..I hope." I called over my shoulder to the rest of the family who laughed as they headed into the kitchen to get ready for dinner. 

Woody must have felt neglected so after about twenty minutes of me being held captive by John looking at photo albums in his room, Woody came looking for me. He knocked gently on the door frame as he stood leaning against it. I looked up and smiled. 

"You were so cute Woody!! I especially love the cowboy stage you went through a while back! What were you like 4!?" I asked chuckling. Woody came to sit next to me on John's bed. He looked at the picture I was referring to for a few seconds then nodded. 

"Yeah, yeah, about four…..so…you like the cowboy thing?" he said cutting his eyes at me over John's head. I smiled and cut my eyes back at him. "Yeah…….I like it a lot." I said and Woody smiled coyly. 

"Well……maybe I could try going through that cowboy stage again." He said and our moment was suddenly broken by John's little voice chiming in as he continued to thumb through the photos. 

"Are you guys talking about sex?" He asked and Woody turned about 8 shades of read while I could only cover my mouth to keep from laughing. 

"Boy….what did you……where did…..go wash your hands for dinner!" Woody said swatting John's rear as he hurried out of the room. When he turned back to me, Woody just shook his head in astonishment. We laughed and Woody leaned over to kiss me as I looked down at the book containing pictures from when John was first born. I ran my thumb over one particular picture of Woody cradling an infant John and holding him proudly up for the camera. I smiled and laid my hand on my stomach. Woody got the idea and laid his hand on top of mine. We smiled at each other. 

"When do you wanna tell them?" I asked and Woody sighed heavily. "Well……I don't think that my parents are gonna take it badly….I mean, my mom had Charlie put your stuff in my room so, I think she's pretty sure we're sleeping together…" He sighed again." At dinner." He said and I nodded in agreement. We stood together and headed down the stairs to eat. 

Dinner was awesome as I expected, and we all seemed to really be genuinely enjoying each other. I talked to Chrissy about music and the bands I was in, told Charlie and Matty about some Bruins games I had been to lately, and explained to John why my name could be for boys or girls. Just as Woody's mom was bringing out dessert, she asked what this big surprise Woody had for them was. He smiled shyly and suggested she sit down for this one. She smiled like she already knew and looking back on it now, I think that she might have. She took a seat next to Woody's dad and everyone listened attentively. Woody cleared his throat and took my hand under the table.

"Well….uh Mom, Dad…..everyone else relevant." He said smiling at his siblings and parents nervously. "Jordan and I are…going to have a baby." He said it slowly to let it sink in. Charlie winked and gave Woody a thumbs up, Chrissy smiled at me, Matty smiled at Woody and John chuckled, probably thinking about his revelation that we were talking about sex. I looked finally at Woody's mom and she was genuinely smiling. So was his dad, but a little more uncertainly. 

"Oh! I'm going to be a grandmom!" Woody's mom said standing and moving to our side of the table. We both stood and she hugged us. Woody's dad followed closely behind and hugged me. 

"Congratulations Sweety." He said rubbing my back. I kissed his cheek before he went to shake Woody's hand. 

"Congratulations Son." He said and patted Woody on the back. I caught Woody's mom glancing at my ring finger just like Dad had done a few weeks earlier. Woody apparently caught her as well. 

"Mama……"He said in a warning tone. She quickly began picking up dishes as she pretended not to have been doing what she clearly had been doing. Woody took some dishes from her and carried them into the kitchen following her. His dad suggested to the kids that they go watch some T.V. They all stood wordlessly, and headed to the rec. room in the basement, except for Charlie who had apparently been newly inducted into the Adult Club of the Hoyt family. He picked up some dishes and so did I. We headed into the kitchen catching the middle of Woody's conversation with his parents as they rinsed dishes. 

"I'm 29 years old! I didn't plan on being a father yet, but it's gonna happen and I'm going to be ready for it." Woody said taking dishes from his mother and placing them in the dishwasher. His father chimed in from his position leaning against the counter. 

"So, how are you going to go about supporting a baby and a…and Jordan?" he asked calmly. It wasn't an interrogation, they were just being parents. 

Woody smiled and looked at me as I handed dishes to his mom. 

"Dad, Jordan is a Medical Examiner…first of all, she doesn't need to be supported, second of all, I'm a Detective with the Boston Police Department…I don't make great money yet but in a year or two I'll probably be doing a little better. Until then, we're gonna move into Jordan's dad's house while we save up some money to get a place of our own." He said and his parents just nodded. 

"I'm proud of you Son, you've really thought this out well." His dad said and Woody smiled in appreciation. 

"I really have Pop. I love Jordan and I'm gonna make sure I can take care of this baby." He said keeping eye contact with his dad. His dad smiled and stepped out to hug him. Woody seemed both surprised ad touched by the gesture. There were hugs all around again and Charlie tried to get one from me, which Woody once again prevented him from doing by grabbing the back of his neck. 

Later that night……….

Woody and I sat on the couch in the family room together around 11:30. All the kids were in bed and Charlie headed off to his apartment which was only about 5 minutes away. All that remained were Woody, myself and his mom and dad. We were chatting in the living room when Woody suddenly yawned and stretched. We all chuckled.   
"Your all tuckered out there partner?" I asked smiling. Woody chuckled and stood from the couch. 

"Yeah I think I'm gonna go peek in on the kids then go to sleep." He said and bent down to kiss me good-night. "You comin' soon?" he asked casually and I nodded.

"Yeah I think I'm gonna stick around down here for a bit." I said and Woody's dad stood as well. 

"I think I'm gonna hit the sack myself…I'll leave you two ladies to some girl talk." He said smiling sleepily and kissed his wife good-night. Then he kissed my cheek and wished me sweet dreams. The two men headed up the stairs together and Woody's mom watched them. When they were out of sight she leaned forward to me and whispered.

"He's always been like that you know? Checkin' in on the kids. He's always felt responsible for them." She shook her head remembering something. "You know, Jimmy isn't Woody's real father?" She said simply and turned a little to look at me. 

I was really surprised. I hadn't known that. "No, I  didn't actually. Where's his real dad?" I asked somewhat tentatively because I wasn't sure if it was a touchy subject. His mother didn't seem surprised at this. 

"I wouldn't imagine you would sweetheart. Woody doesn't really like to think about him much. The only real father he's ever had was Jim." She said sighing as she glanced over at a family portrait taken probably 3 years earlier by the looks of John. I let her continue at her own speed and didn't push her to go on. 

"I had Woody, Charlie, Matt and Chrissy with my first husband, his name was Jack. Jack was….well, Jack was a mistake I made at a young age, but despite that, he gave me those four wonderful children. Unfortunately, Jack also gave me a lot of heartache." She sighed and laid her head back in her chair. "He was a good man most of the time, took the kids places, supported us all, but he was a drinker. And when he drank he was such a….such a different person you know?" She asked and I nodded. 

I had suspected there was some personal experience behind Woody's claim that I was like an alcoholic. He had been sympathetic saying that I couldn't help myself, but there was a real concern in his eyes like he had been in a similar situation before. I just nodded encouraging her to continue, and feeling very privileged to have been allowed to know this information about their family. 

"Now I'm not saying he ever once laid a hand on one of the kids before….. He had enough sense to know I would have called the police on him the first time he raised a hand to one of them." She paused for a second then continued with a sigh. "But this one night when Woody was about oh….12 if I remember correctly. Yes that's right because Chrissy was just a new born little thing and Matty was starting to walk all over creation."She smiled and then suddenly frowned connecting the nostalgic memory of her children when they were young to an unpleasant memory. 

"And this one night, I was over next door with Chrissy and Matty at my girlfriends house. I left Woody to watch 7 year old Charlie who was asleep. Woody was so dependable….I trusted him completely to keep an eye on the house while I was next door. His father, Jack, had told me he was working late and wouldn't be home at his regular time that night….but…instead of working late I learned later that he had gone out drinking. He came in the house, Woody was watching football or something down in the living room and had fallen asleep on the couch. Jack tripped over one of Charlie's trucks stumbling into the house and he…just lost it. He charged up the stairs, threw Charlie's door open and ripped him out of bed screaming at him about the truck. Woody heard the commotion and woke up. He hurried up the stairs to find his father holding little Charlie up against the wall by his neck." 

I shook my head in amazement. I guess Woody was right about being complicated too. I let her continue. 

"Now Woody had a bit of a stammering problem when he was a little boy, but from what Charlie tells me, he had no trouble telling his father just where he could go that night." She chuckled a little sadly.

"Woody pulled Charlie away from Jack and took him to his room. When he got back to his father he told him…that….he should just leave. That we didn't need him around and we'd all be better off if he just left us all and went away." She sighed and stood. She walked over to the window and looked out at the few cars still passing through the little neighborhood. 

"So……he did. But not by packing his things up and moving away. The next day I noticed that Jack was more quiet than he normally was. He moped around the house and told me he wasn't feeling well and wasn't going into work that day. I was a little concerned but neither he nor Woody had said anything about what happened the night before. So I sent Woody and Charlie off to school and around 3 O'clock I took Matty and Chrissy with me grocery shopping. When Woody and Charlie got home from school, they found their father on the living room couch. He had put his hunting rifle in his mouth and shot himself. Woody entered the house first and saw it. He tried to stay calm and sent Charlie next door to my girlfriend's house. Then he went back home through the back door to the kitchen and called the sheriff." She turned to me indicating that she was finished. 

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I understood why Woody never told me much about his family before.   
"Oh my God." It was all I could say. "Thank you for sharing that with me Mrs. Hoyt…Jane." I said when she started to protest me calling her Mrs. Hoyt. 

"How bout 'Mom'?" She asked cautiously. I sighed and chuckled. "I know a little something of you myself Jordan." I smiled and agreed that maybe after a little bit of getting used to I could start calling her that. We hugged and she wished me sweet dreams before heading off to sleep herself. I stayed in the dimly lit room for a little bit longer with my thoughts. 

When I finally gathered myself, I climbed the stairs quietly. I opened the door to Woody's room quietly and he was still awake, lying in bed. He smiled at me when I came in and shut the door softly. "oooooo……hey I never got to have girls in my room when I was a kid." He said smiling and I rolled my eyes. Woody realized that there was something different about me. 

"What's wrong?" he whispered as I got undressed and put a pair of shorts and a tank top on. I crawled into bed with him and laid my head against his chest. Woody began to stroke my hair out of my face gently and rub my shoulders. I sighed thankful that he was giving me time to respond. 

"Jordan?" He asked tentatively. "You okay?" he asked and kissed the top of my head. I rolled over onto my stomach slowly and crossed my arms over Woody's stomach. I laid my chin on my arms and sighed. 

"Your mom and I talked." I said and Woody nodded still perplexed. "About what?" He asked and I smiled sadly. 

"About Jack." I said and Woody's eyes dropped to the floor in the corner of the room and his body tensed a little. He sighed. 

"Oh." He said and then laughed sadly. "Told you I was complicated too." He said and flicked his eyes between the corner and me. I bent up to him and kissed his lips. 

"I mean, I basically killed the guy right? I think that's complicated." He said and I looked at him sternly. 

"Woody, as far as I can tell, your father killed himself. You didn't pull the trigger." I said forcefully and Woody shook his head. 

"No I didn't. I just helped him load the gun." He said and I knew he was talking about what he had said to his father about not needing him. 

"Woody, what you said to him was something any scared little boy would say. You wanted him to stop hurting your family and making your mother upset. You just wanted to make the sadness leave your house." I said and laid my head back down on his chest. Woody sighed heavily. 

"Can we…not talk about this too much Jordan? I mean you have your thing with your mom and…I have Jack…….it's not something I like about my past but it's something I have learned to deal with. And I promise you I will NEVER be like him. Never." I rolled onto my side and Woody laid his hand on my stomach. 

"I know you won't Woody. You're a wonderful man. You were raised by wonderful parents, I was raised by a wonderful father, and we're gonna be wonderful parents." I said smiling and tearing up a bit. 

Woody kissed me and we snuggled down into the covers together and drifted to sleep. 

The next day we woke up feeling more bonded than the night before. We both knew what it was like to lose a parent. We went down stairs following the wonderful smells of the kitchen. We had a big country breakfast with biscuits and gravy and steak and eggs, toast, jelly, bacon. It was wonderful. Woody said he wanted to take me out and show me around the town he grew up in. We took the kids with us and let them go see friends while we walked around town. Woody showed me his high school, the playgrounds he played on, the tee-ball field he learned to play ball on and the movie theatre he lost his virginity in the balcony of while seeing "Backdraft" of all movies. 

"And quite a backdraft it was!" Woody said chuckling and shaking his head. At the end of our immature little fit of laughter, Woody suddenly grew somber as he looked out across the street from the movie theatre at something. I followed his line of vision to see a group of young women coming out of a hairdressers talking away to each other. 

"What?" I asked looking from the women to Woody. He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the movie theatre. He crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. 'oh shit.' Was all I could think. There's only one woman in the world grown men respond to that way. It was the girl who stood him up at the prom. 

I watched Woody's painful display and I felt anger well up inside of me. I grabbed him by the hand and before he could respond, I dragged him across the street. 

When we hit the sidewalk I told Woody what to do. As we approached the women, I stopped at the window of a shop and let Woody walk by the women alone. I had the distinct feeling that I was really going to enjoy myself. I stood casually pretending to admire a dress or something as one of the women stopped short as they passed Woody.   
"Woody! Woody Hoyt!?" she said and out of the corner of my eye I could tell she was trying not to laugh. Woody hesitated and I willed him not to back down. He smiled kindly. 

"Hi Diane." He said and stuffed his hands in his pants pockets as the other women stopped and walked back to where Woody was standing. They all chuckled and whispered as they walked back over. 

"So…..how are you doing? The big city all it's cracked up to be?" She asked and jabbed one of the other women with her elbow. Woody just kept on smiling and he opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. He was gonna stammer. I couldn't let that happen so I swung in for the rescue. I crept from my position by the window.   
"Woody, Sweetie, come take a look at these maternity clothes I …" I pretended to just notice the women as I wrapped my arms around Woody's waist and he proudly wrapped his arms around me. Now he was ready to play hardball. He kissed me and laid a hand on my stomach. 

"Oh! I'm sorry, Where the hell are my manners!" Woody said mock laughing and I went along. "Diane, this is my girlfriend Jordan Cavanaugh, she's a Dr. With the Massachusetts Medical Examiners Office. Jordan this is Diane Hughes, we went to school together." Diane was speechless. She stumbled over her words. "So…you finally found someone for yourself Woody, I'm happy for you." She said getting her little dig in. I Smiled and laid my hand over Woody's where it lay on my stomach. "He actually found a couple of people for him. We've got a baby due in April!"  I said sweetly. "And with Woody making Detective and being assigned to Homicide, we should be able to get a nice little town house together." I said and Woody nodded in agreement. Diane was speechless. She just nodded and smiled a big fake smile. The other women looked around the street at each other, pretty much anywhere but right at the happy couple. 

"That's….terrific, really I'm happy for you." Diane said.   
"Yeah, I'm really, really happy with my life now, big jump from the chubby stuttering kid you stood up at the prom huh?" Woody said and took my hand in his. Diane just stared at him. 

"Well, we have to be back at my parent's soon, I'll see ya around Diane." He said. "Ladies." He said nodding to the gaggle behind Diane. We walked off around them as the kids were hurrying out of the drug store talking to each other and the two of us. Woody picked little John up and he swung from Woody into my arms. I caught him and let him slide to the ground as we walked off around the corner together and never looked back. 

When we got back to Woody's parents house, we all decided to go to the lake for the day. It was hot, the kids were irritable and swimming in the cool waters of lake Michigan sounded like a really good idea to everyone. We all changed and got ready to go and were out the door by a little after noon. 

The lake was more beautiful than I had imagined. As soon as we got out of our cars, the kids took off running to a dock. The adults carried the beach chairs and blankets down to the water. When we had set everything up and I had finished laughing at Woody and his dad trying to get the umbrella steak in deep enough, Woody smiled coyly and came running after me. I pulled my t-shirt off and left just my bikini top and board shorts on as I charged into the water with the kids. Woody sacked me into the water and the kids jumped on top of him to try and save me as we all laughed and splashed around. Charlie, who was standing up on an embankment holding onto a thick, frayed rope hanging from a tree, made a Tarzan yell and swung straight for us. He obviously knew what he was doing and managed to careen over us and land in some deeper water. We all laughed until a minute had passed and Charlie hadn't surfaced. We began to look around us in the clear water when all of a sudden, Woody got pulled under. The kids all started screaming and laughing at the same time. I laughed as we all hurried away from where the two oldest brothers were wrestling. Both took each other under and we laughed as we searched the water with our eyes for sign of them. I screamed involuntarily when I felt a pair of strong hands grab me around the ankles and yank me under. I heard Matty and Chris yell as well, and assumed that Charlie had gotten them. 

Later we all played football and let  John get a few touchdowns to feel important. When I got too tired to do anymore as it was nearing 6 pm and the sun was quickly disappearing, I was heading to the chairs to get a sweatshirt when I notices Matty standing near another group of chairs chatting with a girl about his age. He kept looking at his feet shyly and the girl was flirting pretty heavily with him. I smiled as he flipped his hair out of his face and the girl mussed it playfully. He grabbed her by the wrist playfully and pulled her into his arms and tickled her. They then chased each other up the sand and walked along the water holding hands. I smiled at them as Woody came up behind me. He pulled a sweatshirt over my head and I chuckled putting my arms up through the sleeves. 

"Thanks Dad." I said and laughed before kissing him and nodding towards Matty and his companion. 

"Is that his girl friend?" I asked and Woody glanced over at the two walking hand in hand down the water's edge. He shrugged. 

"Dunno." He said and took my hand in his and headed off in the same direction as his brother was headed. We kept about a 20 ft. safety distance from them and carried on our own little conversation about time Woody had spent at the lake as a kid. Finally, Matt caught on that we were trailing them and veered off in another direction away from the lake. Woody and I chuckled. 

"I guess we just got told." Woody said wrapping his arms around me and we continued on our path down the beach. 

Later that night when we had gotten back from the beach I went out on the porch to get my drying sandals and found Matty sitting on the rail of the porch in the dark. 

"Hey, Matt……what are you doing out here?" I asked. He turned his head to look at me and slid off the railing. He walked past me to sit on the porch swing by the door and I went and sat next to him. 

"Thinking." He said and chuckled rubbing the back of his head. I smiled. 

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" I asked leaning back on the swing. I looked over at Matt and smiled. His profile was the same as Woody's. He caught me staring and turned to look at me, being taller than I was, he had to look down a little. 

"Scary isn't it?" he said and smiled. I just nodded and shook my head in awe of his perception. He leaned back as well and sighed. I tried him again.

"So you wanna talk about what you're thinking?" I asked and looked out at the moonlight shimmering off the newly forming film of dew on the late night grass. Matt sighed. 

"That girl? You know the one I was with on the beach today?" He asked and I smiled. I could tell he was blushing even in the dark. "Yeah, I guess you did notice." He said and looked out at the yard as well.

"Is she your girl friend?" I asked and Matt sighed and thought for a minute. 

"I'm….not…..sure……what she is. I mean we hang out together….go out to eat sometimes…." He suddenly blushed again. "We….we even danced together in her uncle's bar this one night." He said shyly. 

I smiled having a memory of my own. "Sounds pretty serious." I said and Matty nodded. 

"Yeah, I mean I really think that she wants to go out with me but…..I dunno, she gets all freaked out when I tell her that I like her….." He said and I laid my hand on his back. 

"Would you care for some advice from a girl with a problem not far removed from your own girl's?" I asked and Matt nodded.

I sighed. 

"Take her hostage if you have to." I said simply and then betrayed my joke with a smile. Matt chuckled. "You just have to keep at it Matt… You know? If Woody wasn't as persistent as he was with me…..we probably would have gone out a lot sooner, things would have moved too quickly, and then I would have freaked out and scared him off with my over-bearing insanity." Matt chuckled again. 

"Yeah, Woody started telling me about you about a month after he moved to Boston. At first it was just that he noticed you." 

I could feel myself blushing at the revelation. I hadn't known that Woody admired me before we even met. He must have jumped on his first shot at getting to come to the morgue. Damn, he WAS persistent. I shook my head amused. 

" Then he started telling me about how he had to come get you in LA or something and he thought for sure you knew then how much he liked you." Matt smiled. "Then he said you went to LA together again. And that YOU kissed HIM." Matt said smiling proudly at me. I narrowed my eyes playfully at him in the dark. 

"Details, details…..but in the end he asked for another one. After we….or……I decided that it would be better if we didn't get involved." Matt looked perplexed. 

"Why'd you do that?" he asked and folded his arms across his chest. I sighed heavily and opened my mouth a few times trying to decide how to respond. 

"Well….you see Matt….I haven't had the best luck with trust and men in the past….I have a long history of being burned. A  lot of guys I've known in my life have let me down in the end." I said and looked down at my hands in my lap. Matt turned to look at me. 

"But not Woody, right?" He asked and I smiled. 

"No. Not Woody." I took Matt's face in my hands and kissed his forehead. "Talk to her. Trust me, if it's meant to be she'll come around eventually." Matt smiled and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him tightly back. 

"Thanks Jordan. I'm gonna go run over to her house right now." He said standing quickly and hurrying down the front steps. He turned when I called to him.

"It's a little late don't you think her parents might not appreciate a late night visit?" I asked standing and walking to the railing. Matt turned around and walked backwards off into the yard. 

"No……they probably wouldn't……..I'm gonna have to do it Romeo style…..climb up the balcony…." He said and smiled. I chuckled and shooed him off with a wave of my hand. 

"Go get her Romeo." I said and turned to someone coming out the front door. Woody smiled at me and I walked over to him and he pulled me to his chest. I laughed heartily when he scooped me off of my feet and carried me over to the porch swing. He sat down with me on his lap and I tucked my head under his chin. 

"So…….givin' my little brother pointers?" He asked. I nuzzled further under his chin. 

"No, just some experience." I said and Woody kissed the top of my head. 

"I think he's giving you a little experience himself." Woody said and I looked up at him puzzled. 

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"Well,  I can't be sure but that seemed a lot like motherly advice to me." He said and I chuckled. "I figure we're gonna be in need of a lot of that in the near future. I mean if we have a boy."  He said and I turned to look up at him again. 

"I thought we were having a girl, oh omniscient one." I said and Woody jabbed me playfully in the side. "Well, see that's the thing," Woody said sitting me up better in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder. 

"If we have a boy, I'm going to let you handle the sensitive, male rearing…." He let it hang and I sat back to look in his face. "And if you and….the rest of Boston are correct in your predictions of a girl?" Woody scrunched up his nose and looked sternly off into the distance as if he was looking into the future.   
"Well, if we do have a girl….me, my badge, the pit bull I'm gonna need to get….and not to mention your….father….are gonna take care of her protection. Namely……wrapping the house in barbed wire the day she turns 13….or develops….which ever comes first." He said and I just shook my head in amusement. 

"Oh, okay." I said and laid my head back down on Woody's shoulder. 

I must have fallen asleep like that because I woke up the next morning in bed with Woody. By noon we were all packed and ready to head back to Boston. 

"You'll have to let us know when you've got some time off next  month so we can come visit and meet your dad Jordan!" Woody's mom said as the guys were taking our stuff out of the van at the airport. I hugged her and promised to see her soon. 

Next, I hugged Woody's dad and kissed his cheek with a little more appreciation of him than when I first met him. Then I hugged Chrissy and made her promise to keep up with practicing the songs on guitar I had taught her. She did and when I pulled back from her, I had to stifle a laugh as I saw Charlie out of the corner of my, standing face fixed unhappily in a frown with his hand jutted out to shake mine. I finally laughed and looked over at Woody who begrudgingly gave Charlie the o.k. to hug me. Happily, Charlie smiled and briefly embraced me. I patted him on the back and kissed his cheek. When I pulled back from Charlie, Matt was standing patiently beside me. I turned to him and raised my eyebrows waiting. I opened my arms and Matt stepped forward and hugged me.   
"So how'd it go last night?" I whispered. Matt hugged me tightly and turned his head to whisper back. "Ahhhh……what light through yonder window broke…..a few pebbles to her window….a few smooth, yet persistent lines….and one particularly painful climb up her drainpipe….and….I was in." he whispered and I leaned back a little noticing his blush. I looked him over curiously. 

"Hmmmmm……." I decided to play with the Shakespearean banter. "I think that …..our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight?" I half asked. Matt chuckled and then whispered before pulling back, " No, no that's not exactly accurate."  He said smiling shyly. I mussed his hair and mouthed, 'be careful', before turning and bending down to be face to face with John. I took his cheeks in my hands.

 "It was nice to meet you John Robert." I said and kissed his forehead. He smiled and wrapped his arms around my neck. He hugged me tightly before pulling back and pulling a teddy bear out from his back which he had tucked into his pants. 

"Here." He said offering the little bear to me. "I want you ta give this to the baby….Woody says I'm gonna be it's uncle….I think I should get rid of some of my baby stuff now….so…..the baby can have him……..his name's Frank…." I chuckled and took the little bear carefully. 

"Thank you John…..that's a very special thing. You're gonna make a wonderful uncle." I said and petted his head. 

We said our final good-byes and walked toward the stairs of the little charter plane hand-in-hand. 

                       More to come……….Garrett gives Jordan a goldfish to practice for the baby with while Woody deals with his own insecurities about becoming a father……


	4. Fish and Fatherhood

Not mine, can't begin to tell you what I'd do with em' if they were….

Summary…Garrett gives Jordan a goldfish to practice for a baby, while Woody deals with his own insecurities about impending fatherhood. 

In the last part….Jordan met Woody's family and helped him deal with some troubling issues from his past. Now it is a month later (September) and as Jordan's birthday and anniversary of her mother's death near, everyone tries their best to distract the mother-to-be…

Pictures Never Lie V: Fish and Fatherhood 

            'Wow, those boxes and stuff Dad and 'the boys' are carrying into the house look REALLY heavy. Luckily for me, I'm not allowed to pick up anything that weighs more than a… a can of soda.' I thought raising the aluminum can to my mouth and leaning back to rest against the porch railing. I smiled as Woody grunted past me, Bug and Nigel not far behind as they hurried to move Woody's and my stuff into Dad's house. I was bad. I wasn't even showing yet and I was already milking this kid for all it was worth. I was only 2 months along and still fit into my jeans. If only I'd known that I would officially be sea cow 4 months later, I think I would have been a little less excited about really starting to show. 

"Oh, Woody, you dropped this." I said holding up a dark blue bandana that had fallen out of his back pocket in his rush to get a 60 pound box of CD's into the living room. He was just walking past me and swiped the rag out of my hand, wiped his face with it, and purposefully stuck the offensive garment back in my face. I could only screech and laugh as I threw it into the grass in a moment of weakness, allowing girly disgust to slip out. 

"Ah, come on Wood….you know I would help you if I could…but. I'm…." All four men cut me off and finished my well-practiced sentence for me. 

"In a condition…" They all said shooting daggers at me with their eyes. I cringed and took the hint to go find something to do inside. 

"Yikes…if looks could kill." I said as I stood slowly and hurried into the house. I wandered upstairs after disposing of my empty soda can and decided to coordinate "our" room. It took some time to get used to that one…especially since no room had ever been mine and anyone's room before. I smiled and placed John's teddy bear between the pillows which were, at Woody's request, gender-neutral. I fluffed up the pillows and went to the open windows to look out at the small Mayflower truck we had rented for the day. It was nearly empty. My plan to avoid all manner of physical labor was progressing nicely. I smiled to myself and turned to the bed where suitcases waited to be unpacked into drawers. But before I could turn, I spotted someone striding up the driveway along side the truck. It was Garrett. And he was carrying a large brown grocery bag steadily beside him. I furrowed my brow and headed to the stairs, curious to see what he had. He was just opening the front door as I hit the bottom step. 

"Hey! Garrett! I thought I saw the reflection from your head in the mirror upstairs…" I said playfully and kissed the top of his shiny head. He smiled sarcastically and walked past me into the kitchen.

"Afternoon Jordan, slacking off as usual I see…" he said with a resigned sigh and when I opened my mouth to explain, "Yeah…..yeah…I know….your in a condition." He said evenly and turned to face me, his hand still clutching the top of the bag. My curiosity began to get the best of me and I wagged my eyes from Garrett to the bag.   
"So….." I said between wagging. 

"What's in the bag?" Garrett said smiling coyly at me. I smiled back and nodded like a 5 year old being offered ice cream. He pushed it over to me gently and I opened the top swiftly. 

Inside, I was met by two big eyes staring up at me and a pair of large lips popping up out of a glass bowl. My shoulders slumped in disappointment. 

"A fish?" I asked raising my eyes to Garrett's. He smiled and nodded. 

"Practice…remember? 'I can't even see you with a fish'? Well, here's your chance to prove me wrong." He said and hung his pull-over across the back of a chair before heading out to help the other guys finish up. I smiled and sat down next to the bag after removing the little bowl from the shopping bag. The fish responded to the new light by swimming excitedly around in it's bowl. I tapped on the side and the fish hurried away from my finger. I reached back into the bag and produced a little bottle of fish food and sprinkled a little into the bowl, causing the little goldfish to hurry to the surface and hungrily inhale the flakes. 

Later that night….

We all sat around the table, and I do mean 'all' as Lily and Peter joined us after a while, having like myself, wisely avoided all manual labor. We ordered a few pizzas and were sitting around dad's dining room table when I began to tease Woody, after noticing his seeming lack of interest in anything we were talking about. 

"Woa, Earth to Woodrow…" I said waving my hand in front of his eyes. He seemed a million miles away. He just turned his head and smiled pleasantly at me. 

"You okay, babe?" I whispered leaning my head closer to his. Everyone was already talking about something else and Woody just glanced around at all of our friends and smiled. Then he looked back into my face and smiled assuring me that he was just fine. 

"Good." I said and ran a hand softly through his growing bangs. " I could cut your hair tomorrow if you want?" I asked and he nodded complacently again. I couldn't help but chuckle at his agreeable attitude lately. Something had to be up. My mind began to wonder. Well, it was my birthday in a few days….so maybe he's scheming something and is guarding it with his good-natured personality and sweet country charm. That had to be it. I smiled again and stood to go feed my 'water baby', as we were now calling the goldfish. 

When I returned, Woody was pouring champagne for everyone, well, excluding me and my little alcohol free tenant. He poured a glass of sparkling cider and held it up for me to see as he poured so that I would know he wasn't putting the baby or I in any compromising positions. Woody set the glass down at my spot and when I came to sit next to him, he pulled my chair closer to his and wrapped his free arm around me.

"MMMM….champagne and pizza, good match." I said chuckling.

 We all chatted and laughed for another hour or so before Garrett announced that it was getting late, after suggesting that we all get together more often. To which Nigel got an idea. 

"Oh no." we all said cringing. 

"Now come on people, I can do simplicity…okay? I was just going to suggest that we all head to the harbor this weekend for lunch and a stroll, maybe a little boat watching." He said and we were all pleasantly surprised. After agreeing that he had a good point and the coming weekend was rumored by the local meteorologist to be the last warm weekend before fall began, we agreed to meet at a restaurant for some lunch then head down to the harbor to take in the last of the season's boaters for the afternoon. 

On Saturday, I woke up pretty early for me and found that Woody was already awake. I slinked down to the kitchen to find him dressed already in a pair of khaki pants and a green polo shirt, standing at the counter making breakfast. Dad was sitting at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee cupped in his hands. He looked up and smiled at me. 

:Morning, Sweetheart." He said, his voice trying desperately to hide emotion. Woody smiled at me from the counter and placed a plate of scrambled eggs at my place next to Dad. After sneaking a quick kiss from Woody, I went to the table and kissed Dad on the top of the head before sitting down to my eggs. 

"What are you doin' dressed all snazzy?" I asked looking Dad over and taking in the sight of him in a green and black striped polo and a pair of black pants with his favorite pair of dark moccasins on. 

"Oh, didn't Woody tell you? I'm going to join you for lunch today." He said happily and I watched him suspiciously for a few seconds before shrugging the suspicious feeling off and diving into my eggs. 

I gotta hand it to the weather team, it was a beautiful day out! We met everyone at a restaurant downtown and then made our way over to the harbor to watch the boats. No one brought cars, so we just strolled through the city on our way to the harbor. As we were approaching the harbor, I brought up the fact that no one had said what Island we were going to. I jumped in surprise as three voices in unison behind me said, 

"Bumpkin!" I turned, my hand teasingly over my heart, to see my father, Nigel and Woody all looking shamefully at each other. I just mouthed an 'okay', and turned back towards the ferry entrances. Lily was walking along side of me and we shared suspicious glances. The ride over to Bumpkin island was pleasant, there was a light breeze that was not cold, but just chilly enough to cause me to lean back against Woody and wrap his arms around mine, which he was much obliged to let me do. He laid his chin on top of my head and nuzzled my hair gently. I nuzzled back and blinked my eyes against the wind. 

"Here we are!" I heard Dad call from his position down the railing from where Woody and I stood. We were all on the top level of the ship and we stood in a line along the railing, watching as we got closer and closer to Bumpkin Island. When the ferry approached the dock, we headed down to the lower level, discussing what part of the island we would visit today. 

" I say we start towards the northeast part of the beach." Dad said omnisciently. "Best view of the city is from that side." He said and we all followed wordlessly as he headed for the paved trails. Woody took my hand as we walked and I smiled at him. 

"Hi." I said and snuck a kiss, as we were the bringing up the end of our little crew. Ahead of us, Lily and Bug strolled switching between chatting and looking out over the island, Nigel and Peter walked a little ahead of them, pointing out wildlife and commenting on things no person would probably ever want to know in their lives, and Garrett and Dad headed the little parade, occasionally stealing a glance back at Woody and myself. I smiled at their protectiveness. 

"Hi yourself." Woody said and briefly brought my hand to his lips. My curiosity was piqued again. 

"So what's up with you lately…you seem like you're off in La la land half the time…you alright?" I asked and Woody looked at the ground stifling a smile. 

He shook his head and returned his eyes to mine. "Yeah, yeah…I'm great…I just…I've never been happier in my life." He said honestly and I chuckled. 

"Me either…I never thought that this…"I said raising our joined hands between us and laying my free hand on my stomach. "Would be something that I wanted. I mean what with…my mom…and how I was raised just with my dad…and all of the serious intimacy issues I USED to have…" I said and we both chuckled. I looked off over the island. I smiled remembering when I first met Woody. "I thought you were…so…naive and innocent and cute and…and….nothing I looked for in a guy." I said and Woody chuckled shyly.   
"Thanks, Jordan." He said shaking his head. I felt like I had to explain.

"NO….no I don't mean that….that…that's bad…sometimes I think…you find the best things in the last place you'd ever think to look." I said and smiled at Woody. He stopped momentarily and pulled me gently into his arms and kissed me. I smiled up at him and kissed him back. 

Suddenly, Nigel's proper British voice interrupted us. 

"Emmmm…if you two are quite finished, we'd like to make it to the outlook post before tomorrow….maybe…..huh?" he said and Woody and I turned slowly to face him and nodded slowly in unison. A short while later, around 4 o'clock or so, we finally were in view of the outlook. Woody took my hand and we climbed the relatively small hill to the little shack. When we reached the top, I looked behind me for the rest of our crew and none of them were anywhere in sight. I searched the hills around us quizzically and as I was turning back to Woody to ask him if he'd seen where they went, I couldn't find him either. That was until I looked down to the ground in front of me. He was down on one knee. 

The air caught in my throat and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. He was going to propose. I could tell he was nervous as he took my hand shakily. I opened my mouth to speak, but Woody just gestured for me not to speak, then he smiled. 

"Forget it." He said sighing and I knew immediately where he was getting his newly calm inspiration from. I decided to play along. He pulled me down to him and I kneeled in the grass with him. 

"You know what….just.Wait." he said and reached into his pocket. I smiled as my eyes filled up a little.

"If that's a quarter, I'm gonna smack you in your head." I said and sniffled. Woody smiled and produced a little velvet green box. 

"Woody…" I said and looked at the box anxiously. He smiled and the smile made his own tears pool under his eyelids. 

"Jordan, don't say anything….and please marry me." He said and opened the little box to reveal my mother's engagement ring. I laughed and cried and wrapped my arms around his neck, sacking him into the grass. 

"Is that a yes?" he asked from under me and I laughed. Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind the outlook shack.   
"Can we come out now!? Please!?" Came Nigel's voice clearly through the air. Woody and I laughed together as we sat up in the grass. 

"Yes! Yes! Come out here!" I yelled as our 'family' hurried out from their hiding place. They all dropped down to sit with us in the grass and there were hugs all around. We ended the day all sitting in the grass together, my dad and Garrett standing over us, as the last of the sailboats headed home for the night. 

"So when you getting hitched?" Peter asked as he tried to make musical instrument of a piece of grass he was blowing on between his thumbs. 

I turned to Woody who shrugged his shoulders. 

"How bout tommora?" A little voice called out from the end of the path leading up to the outlook. We all turned quickly, minus Woody who smiled and glanced to the voice. 

I smiled and hopped up from my sitting position and headed for the path: where John Robert Hoyt stood arms crossed bossily across his little chest. The rest of the family wasn't far behind him and they all rushed me as I picked John up. 

"Sorry we're late," Mrs. Hoyt said wrapping her arms around me tightly. "John went 'exploring' without our knowledge and we nearly sent a search party out for him." She said and I chuckled. 

Introductions were made all around. Dad got to talk to Woody's parents, and he of course had nothing but good things to say about the job they did raising Woody. Nigel found a new friend in John who he chased along the beach at dusk searching for shells, and Charlie hit on Lily a little, much to Bug's dismay. I watched Garrett talk shop with Chrissy as he played air drums as we walked in a line. Peter watched bemused by the display of semi-coolness being given by Garrett. 

"So, I assume we're getting married pretty soon huh?" I asked looking back at our parents, still consumed in conversation. Woody looked back at them too and smiled, the wind flicking his hair in his eyes as he turned. 

"Actually, John wasn't kidding… I WAS thinking about tomorrow…"He said and trailed off. I was shocked. Not at the prospect of marrying Woody so soon, I mean, we were having a baby…I was ready to marry him anywhere anytime.

"Wow, hey there spontaneous Woody! Where have you been hiding all this time?" I said and jabbed him gently with my elbow. He laughed and looked out at the Atlantic. 

"Hey, I can be spontaneous…and I am serious Jordan. I wanna marry you…tomorrow." He said and I stopped walking. I watched his eyes to make sure he wasn't kidding. Then I nodded and smiled. 

"Okay." I said and he smiled a little taken aback. He wrapped his arm around me and I could tell he was giving everyone behind us a thumbs up. I heard a few muffled cheers, which disappeared when I turned to see where they were coming from. 

The next morning…

I stood in front of the full length mirror in my old room. The dress was white and simple. Linen not lace. I had no veil, no train, no puffy under-thing that itched and made me look like a parachute. Lily wove a strand of little white flowers into my hair which I let curl for the day. The dress, simple as it was, was beautiful. I peeked into dad's room when no one was around and watched Woody dressing. He wore white linen himself. White linen pants, a white linen man's peasant shirt that had a v-neck and showed off his strong collarbones. While he was looking in the mirror I slipped silently into the room. He caught me out of the corner of his eye and smiled. 

"Aren't I not supposed to see you before the ceremony?" he said and I rolled my eyes and laid a hand on my stomach after shutting the door slowly.

"Yeah, there are a lot of things you're not supposed to do before the wedding Wood, I think we dropped tradition on the way into the first ultrasound." I said and Woody nodded. 

"Oh. Yeah." He said and turned to look at me. He didn't blink. Just sat down on the edge of Dad's bed and scrutinized me. 

"Hey, take a picture, it'll last longer." I said and walked over to where he sat. He just smiled and pulled me into his lap. I leaned my forehead against his and we sighed. 

"You ready?" He asked and I smiled, remembering the last time he asked me that. I felt confident enough to really answer this time though. 

"Uh huh." I said and kissed his forehead. Just then, Dad knocked on the door and came in. He smiled, not surprised in the least when he saw me in there with Woody. 

"You two ready to leave?" he asked and I stood from Woody's lap. Dad stopped himself from walking out the door and just stood in the threshold, unaware of anything but me. 

"Holy Mary motha of God…you look so…so…much like her right now." He said his eyes filling with tears. I started to move towards him but he put up his hands to stop me. 

"No, no, no, no….just…just let me look at you." He said and I smiled sadly. Woody stood and walked to the door, laying a hand on Dad's shoulder. He finally looked away from me and nodded to Woody that he was alright. I smiled and walked forward and kissed Dad's cheek. 

"I still don't know why you won't get married in a church, Jordan…but you've always gone your own way, I don't know what made me imagine you'd go mine on your wedding day." Dad whispered from his position standing next to me on the beach. My old band-mates had offered to play at the wedding and I chose a traditional Irish tune to be played instead of the wedding march.

"Oh will you stop!" I whispered playfully back. "Don't you think it might be easier for God to see us out here in the open rather than a stuffy church with walls?" I asked proud of my resourcefulness. He just sighed and rolled his eyes as we made our way down the sandy wooden steps to the beach. Our families stood from their seats and I looked at Woody standing at the makeshift altar. He straightened up and Charlie patted his shoulder proudly. The groomsmen were all dressed similar to Woody and they just looked adorable. I couldn't help but smile along the line of them and Charlie, Bug, Nigel, Garrett, and Matt all smiled brightly back at me. Woody was as serious as I'd ever seen him as he never took his eyes off me the whole walk down the aisle. 

When we reached the altar, Dad placed my hand in Woody's and stood off to the side, after kissing Lily, Chrissy, and my three closest childhood friends, each on the cheek. When dad was finally seated, the priest began. We made sure for John's sake that the ceremony lasted only about a half hour. When it quickly came time to exchange the rings, John stepped proudly forward and removed the matching Claddagh rings from a gold chain around his chubby little neck. He handed them to Woody, who handed them to the priest, Father Paul, my first love from high school. He took the rings and smiled at me. Then he leaned forward and whispered, "Your dad gave me 10 bucks to try and talk you into a church wedding, you don't have to day anything, just make me look like I gave it my best." I smiled back and Paul began to explain the significance of the Claddagh's. 

"BY TRADITION THE RING IS MEANT TO SIGNIFY THE WISH THAT LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP SHOULD REIGN SUPREME. THE HANDS SIGNIFY FRIENDSHIP, THE CROWN LOYALTY. AND THE HEART LOVE. TODAY THE CLADDAGH RING IS PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION AND WORN WITH GREAT PRIDE. THIS FAMOUS RING IS WORN EITHER ON THE RIGHT HAND WITH THE HEART TURNED OUTWARDS SHOWING THAT THE WEARER IS AVAILABLE: OR WITH THE HEART TURNED INWARDS TO DENOTE THAT HE OR SHE IS SPOKEN FOR: THE PRIDE OF PLACE IS ON THE LEFT HAND ,WITH THE HEART TURNED IN,INDICATING THAT THE WEARER IS HAPPILY MARRIED AND THE LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER." Paul finished his micro-sermon by doing just as the legend of the ring says. He handed my ring to Woody who's job it was to place it facing inward on my left ring finger. I took the larger ring and placed it the same way on Woody's left hand. Paul…or…Father Paul, told us to go ahead and kiss which we happily complied with and everyone stood again and clapped. As we turned to everyone, Paul spoke again. 

"I present to you in the name of God and by the state of Massachusetts, Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow AND Jordan Hoyt." Everyone clapped as we walked together hand in hand down the sand aisle. We decided, or more our short planning schedule decided, that instead of a stuffy, plain-old, sit down reception, we were going to end our wedding day the Irish way: Sing, eat, get drunk, pass out when the sun comes up. And so we all headed to the Pogue together and threw the best party I think Boston had all year. I took out the flowers in my hair and let it down. While I sat on the bar during a 'down-time' between dancing, I watched curiously as Woody seemed to be scheming with my old band-mates. I lost interest long enough to also lose sight of where Woody had gone until I heard a guitar being played through the commotion of the bar. Everyone else seemed to notice it as well and they quickly quieted to hear better.

All of a sudden the light on the stage came on and Woody sat in the little spotlight, strumming a guitar. I was completely dumbfounded. I leaned over to yell into Crissy's ear. "I didn't know he played the guitar?!" I said and Chrissy leaned towards me clapping. "Who do you think taught me?" She said and I just shook my head in awe, of course then he blindsided me by opening his mouth and singing. 

There are few things pure in this world

Anymore

And home is one of the few, 

We'd have a drink outside,

Maybe run and hide, 

If we saw a couple men in blue.

But to me it's so damn easy to see

That you people are the people 

At home

Well, I been away but now I'm 

Back today and 

There ain't a place I'd rather go

I feel home, when I, see the faces

That remember my own

I feel home, 

When I'm chillin' outside

With the people I know.

I feel home, and that's just how I feel

Home to me is reality, 

And all I need is somethin' real

Feelin' alright headin' out tonight

Maybe off to a dark driveway

I say, some are bored and some are

Lookin' for more, but we all just decide to stay

We got nothin' to do, 

But when I, look at you,

I see somethin' that I know and love

And with the crack of a smile, 

We all, stay a while

We know from home there ain't nothin' above

Well in the end, we can all call a friend and

That's something that I know is true, 

And in a thousand years,

And a thousand tears

I come findin' my original crew

Cause to me throughout eternity,

There's somewhere where you're welcomed to go,

I said it's somethin' free that means a lot to me

When I'm with my friends I feel home

I feel home, when I 

See the faces that remember my own

I feel home

And that's just how

I fe-ee-eee-eee-eel

Home to me is reality 

And all I need is somethin' real….

When woody was finished the song, I just stared at him amazed as everyone clapped. When he looked up and smiled at me, I sauntered over to him as he laid the guitar down next to him on the stage. I sat down sideways in his lap and kissed him. 

"You're welcome." He said when I pulled back. I smiled and he laid his hand on my stomach. I laid my hand over his and kissed him again. 

"Hey, looks like I found another headliner for the Pogue!" Dad said laughing and raising his glass to us. Woody chuckled and ducked his head shyly. 

"Nah, this is just for fun, and for her." He said laying his hand on my stomach. I took his cheeks and squeezed them playfully. 

"Still with the HER, you don't give up do you?" I said and laughed. Woody pulled his cheeks away and laughed. "Nope." He said and stood with me in his arms. 

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck as he called for everyone's attention. I glanced at the clock on the wall and when I could focus well enough through my sleepy haze, I was shocked to realize that it was nearly 5 am. 

"Well, everyone we'd like to thank you all for being with us today…for our wedding." He said and smiled at me. "We couldn't ask for a better family." He said looking not only at our parents and siblings but at our adopted family as well. "I know I'm going to know and love all of you for years and years to come just like I know that my home is here with Jordan. Hell, I've known that since we met. So did all of you." He said smiling at the 'gang'. They raised their pitchers back at Woody and gave a few playful 'here, here's'. "And whether he'll admit it now or not, I'm pretty sure Max saw something there himself." He turned with me still casually in his arms to face Dad. "Thanks Max, I mean about tellin' me to go with that little voice." He said and I narrowed my eyes in curiosity. Dad smiled coyly and nodded in understanding. 

"You're welcome son." He said and raised his pitcher as well. 

"And I know if we could we would want this night…or…morning…to last forever, but, I've got a pregnant woman here who needs some rest." Everyone laughed and I rolled my eyes at everyone. 

"He's so protective." I mouthed and they laughed again. Woody pretended to ignore me and continued. 

"So with that, I'm gonna ask Max to give us a good old fashioned Irish blessing and…we'll see you all tomorrow for breakfast!" he said and stepped down from the stage with me still in his arms. Woody set me down on a stool and took the seat next to me. Dad cleared his throat and asked that everyone raise his or her glass. 

May God be with you and bless you.  
May you see your children's children.  
May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings.  
May you know nothing but happiness.  
From this day forward.

We all raised our glasses again and smiled. I downed my little glass of cider and Woody scooped me up again when he sat his glass down. "Ahhh." He sighed thirstily as we headed for the door. Dad opened the door and kissed me good-bye. 

"See ya at home sweetheart." He said and I cupped his face briefly. I waved to everyone as I was carried out the door and I smiled as the door closed and I could just see little John curled up asleep on a booth. 

Woody put me down slowly and went to the curb to open the door of a waiting taxicab.

When we arrived back at the house, we walked hand in hand up the front porch and into the house. On the way up the stairs I sprinkled a little food into the water baby's little bowl. Half way up the stairs, Woody once again swept me up and I burst into laughter as he charged up the stairs and into our room. 

When I finally woke up in Woody's arms, I stretched, happy to be back in Jordan clothes as I looked down at my BoSox t-shirt and the soccer shorts I was wearing. 

"I just love your wedding night lingerie, Jordan." Woody's gravely voice said from the pillow next to me. I chuckled and rolled over playfully onto him, and went dead weight. 

"ohhhhhhhhh………Jordan, get off!" Woody groaned rolling over onto his stomach.  I slid off of him chuckling. I was still for a few seconds until I realized Woody was dozing again. I tentatively tugged on the corner of his undershirt. 

"Jordan….go away. I wanna sleep a little before we go out to breakfast with the whole world." He said and I heard a smile in his voice. I tugged harder and he swung around and flipped me over. I started laughing as he pinned me to the bed and when I laid my hand across my stomach casually, he pulled hurriedly back. 

"What?" I asked as Woody grew serious and stared at my stomach. 

"Did…..did I hurt you? I didn't hurt you or the baby did I?" He asked nervously and sat up on his knees facing me. I looked around perplexed then pretended to knock on my stomach. 

"You alright in there kid?" I asked tapping my stomach. I listened intently for a minute. "We're okay." I said and Woody rolled his eyes. 

"Seriously, Jordan I don't wanna do anything to upset the two of you." He said and I smiled coyly. I moved forward and pushed Woody onto his back. 

"I can think of a few things that could make us feel better…" I said and wagged my eyebrows playfully. Woody sat up horrified. 

"Oh my God!! You're disgusting!!! That could traumatize her for the rest of her life!!!" He said and stood up from the bed. I couldn't help it I laughed.

"Oh for the love of God, Woody…there's no possible way you could…there's a…..wall….if you will….a wall that even the best of men can't get through…it's fine…" I said standing and wrapping my arms reassuringly around him. Woody thought for a moment then stepped away from me and headed for the door. 

"I'm sorry…I can't…I've already got a visual and it just won't leave me." He said and rubbed his head as if the rubbing alone could scrub the picture out of his mind. He looked at me one last time then shook like he had a chill and hurried out of the room. 

"Just you wait till my third trimester mister! You just try to ignore me when I'm begging for it!" I said and his head popped suddenly back into the room. 

"Ummmmmm……..begging?" he said hopefully. I decided to play hard to get for the time being. I couldn't let him off the hook that easily. 

"ummm….yeah, but you know that's okay…you have issues with it, so I'll just have to wait it out and you know….remain celibate for the next oh, 5 or 6 months…no biggie."  I said walking to the door and past Woody. He grabbed me around the waist. 

"5 or 6 months?" he asked looking straight ahead. I smiled. "Yeah, no problem I mean you can wait right?" I asked and started to walk forward again. Woody didn't let go. 

"Problem Wood?" I asked leaning back to look in his face. He finally turned his head to look at me. 

" I think I'm better now Jordan." He said somberly. I nodded and laughed as Woody swung me quickly back into the room and pushed the door shut. 

Later that day…

"So are you kids going to your doctor's visit today, or did other activities…preoccupy your…minds?" Dad asked and raised his eyebrows at us as we all ate lunch in the early afternoon. I looked sympathetically at Woody who was bright red and mumbling something about never getting used to the openness of east coast people. 

"What was that hon?" I asked and Woody turned to face me. "Where I come from, in the MIDWEST, we keep things inside…we don't talk about things like…what we're talking about… in Wisconsin! We bottle things up and…and never speak of them again…" he said and Dad and I just shrugged at each other. 

"That's REALLY healthy, Wood…" I said and patted his hands where they lay on the table. He shook his head and I turned back to Dad. "Of course we're going to the doctors, Dad. Today we get the video of the ultrasound and the miracle of life video!" I slapped Woody on the shoulder. 

"Yeah, it should be great." Woody said sarcastically. Dad laughed and stood from the kitchen table. He walked over to where Woody was sitting and leaned down next to his ear. 

"Take it from a guy who's been there son, during the exam, keep yourself up by Jordan's pretty little head there, you follow?" He asked and Woody shook his head quickly in understanding. I smiled and grabbed Woody's wrist to look at his watch. "Yikes! We better get going Woody. My appointment is at 3!" I said and we stood together. Dad wished us luck and we headed off to the doctors. 

At the hospital, Woody sat with me in the exam room while we waited for the doctor to come in. Woody put a latex glove over his head and nose and blew it up to make me smile and managed to get powder in his eyes which made me laugh even harder. Just as he was flushing the last of the talcum out of his eyes at the sink, the doctor walked in reading my chart. 

"Hey there kids, how are we all doing today?" my middle aged, cool English teacher looking OB said as he rolled up to my lowers on a rolling stool. 

"We're doing married Doc." I said sticking out my hand for him to see my wedding band. He looked up over his glasses and reached out to hold my hand still and admire the ring. 

"Ahhhhh…..well, it's about time folks, I was worried your ass backwards approach to life might jinx the little one and send her….or him out breached…." He said smiling and cut his eyes at Woody. 

"God, Jordan what does your Dad have like a phone chain with half of Boston?!" Woody asked rubbing the back of his neck. Dr. Donnelly cleared his throat. 

"No…three-quarters." He said deadpan and I chuckled. "Alright well should we have a look at your work here, Dad?" The doctor said and Woody smiled. 

"That's the first time anyone called me that…" he said and the doctor raised his eyes as the nurse came in to prep my belly for the ultrasound. The doctor smiled at Woody genuinely. 

"Feels nice huh?" He said and Woody could only nod in response. They turned the ultrasound on and instantly a little fluttering beat sounded through the room as a picture suddenly appeared on screen. Woody came to stand next to me and took my hand gently. I watched his eyes as they watched the screen captivated by the curled little body slowly shifting there. The doctor looked over the picture as well and assured us that everything was going just fine. He turned and hesitantly asked us if we'd like to know the sex. I could feel Woody's pulse quicken and his hands moistened. 

"You….you can….you can tell that already?" he asked in awe. The doctor nodded and I smiled and smoothed my hand over Woody's. Woody shifted next to me. 

"You…you mean like it's in your head right now, like right this second you know what are baby is?" He said and I chuckled. Woody turned his head to me, his eyes begging a question his mouth didn't know how to ask. I nodded slowly, giving him the go-ahead. He looked back at Dr. Donnelly. 

"Does that mean you'd like to know what you're having?" Dr. Donnelly asked smiling at Woody's apprehension. Woody smiled back. 

"I'd like that very much." He said as truthfully as I have ever heard him say anything. Dr. Donnelly looked from my face to Woody's and then took Woody by the arm and pulled him over to the screen. 

"You see that right…there?" he asked and after searching the area the doctor was pointing at for a few seconds, Woody shook his head.

"Ummmm…no." Woody said and turned his head puzzled, towards the doctor. Dr. Donnelly nodded.   
"Good, that's because this is your daughter, Woody." He said and Woody's mouth hung open in awe. He looked from the doctor to me to the screen and then back again. 

"Hey," he said turning to me. "I…I was right! It's…it's a girl….I'm going to be a daddy and…and it's a little girl!" he said and hugged the doctor tightly. My eyes filled up with tears.   
"Don't…hug me son, hug your wife." The doctor said with a chuckle and Woody pulled away.

"Oh right, thanks Doc." He said and hurried to my side. 

"We'll give you two a few minutes. Just let us know when you're ready." Dr. Donnelly said and walked out the door. Woody took my hand in his as his eyes filled up with unshed tears as well. He couldn't speak to me yet, he just watched me tear up as I stared at the little person on the screen. The little girl on the screen. Woody leaned forward and laid his head on my puffy little stomach. I laid my hand on his head and we watched the screen in silence. In awe. 

On the way home, Woody stopped at a cigar store and smiled at me before jumping out of the car and practically floated into the store. He exited a few minutes later with a box under his arm. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as he hopped back into the car and we drove off. 

"What did you get for Halloween Charlie brown?" I asked and picked up the box, flipping the lid open as I did so. I smiled at the line of cigars with silver bands around them reading, "It's a girl!" Woody smiled and I set the box back down between us. 

"So………any thoughts on names?" I asked looking out the window as the Boston streets passed quickly by. Woody was quiet then tentatively said, 

"Well…I was thinking…but we don't have to if you're uncomfortable with it…" he said capturing my attention. I leaned my head on my hand and turned it to look at Woody. 

"What is it?" I asked and he smiled hesitantly. He sighed and looked out his window briefly before looking back at the road ahead of him. "Ummmm……I was thinking about naming her…Emily?" he almost asked. Tears suddenly sprang to my eyes. I was touched. Woody pulled over quickly, believing he had upset me. 

I could only shake my head to let him no I wasn't upset. "I'm sorry Woody, I just…you caught me off guard." I said and chuckled embarrassedly. Woody pulled me into his arms. 

"Jordan, I'm sorry…I should have waited until we were home to tell you." He said and I wiped my eyes chuckling. 

"No, honestly Woody, I'm fine you really just caught me off guard…Is…is that really what you want to name her?" I asked and pulled back from Woody. He slowly started the car again. He shrugged his shoulders. 

"Well, yeah. I mean wouldn't you like that? And you know, her middle name could be Jane for my mom. What do you think?" I thought it over with a smile for a minute. 

"Emily Jane Hoyt." I said and Woody smiled happily at the sound of his daughter-to-be's last name: His last name. He smiled and pulled back onto the road. 

"Jordan?" he questioned tentatively as we headed back towards home. 

"Huh?" I asked looking out over the city as the sun was slowly disappearing in the West. 

"You sure she has to be in their for nine months? Cause…I wanna play with her now." He said with a chuckle. I laughed. 

"Yeah, Wood, I'm sure." I said, taking his hand in mine between our seats. 

**Alright there it is, next installment….Woody gets his little playmate finally…YEAH BABY TIME!!! **  
  



	5. Cuddle Up a Little Closer

PNL – Chapter 5. --- Cuddle Up a Little Bit Closer

The next months of my pregnancy went fairly smoothly. As suspected, the third trimester went particularly well for Woody, who just about completely got over his early concerns of traumatizing Emily. Yes, we decided to definitely name her Emily Jane Hoyt. When we told Dad, I am sure it was one of the most touching moments of his life. 

When I told him that it had been Woody's idea, he seemed particularly impressed and seemed to have gained a new respect for Woody. I on the other hand, was completely stupefied as to how good my life was going and how right things seemed to be for the first time in longer than I cared to remember. I had a loving husband, a contented father, close friends surrounding me at work, and I was going to be a mommy. 

On the first day of my ninth month, I went on maternity leave. We had a little shower at work and I went to pick Woody up afterward, only to find him not waiting outside for me like he usually was. Concern began to set in after a few minutes and I finally began to understand the fears associated with being the wife of a cop. I slid out of my SUV and waddled into the station, everyone wishing me luck as I headed back to his office. When I reached his wing of the building, I smiled seeing the very out of place cutesy decorations of a baby shower. Most of the officers in his hallway were still hanging around in doorways eating cake and chatting and they welcomed me warmly as I made my way to Woody's door. When I got there, I heard the song "16 Candles" playing and assumed it was one of many songs on a CD written specifically for fathers and daughters. 

"16 Candles?!" I said playfully as I rounded the corner of his office, "She's not even born yet guys!" I said as Woody caught sight of me through the crowd of his coworkers. He was wearing a cone-shaped birthday hat with the words "It's a Girl" written across it in pink letters. He smiled and held up his plate of cake. 

"Want some?" he asked and I waddled over to him through the crowd. 

"Why? So I can start knocking everything in the house over with my stomach AND my ass?" I said and everyone laughed cheerily. I snapped the string on his chin playfully. 

"Sure." I said with a smirk and Woody held the fork up to my lips. I took the cake happily and "mmmmed" for effect. 

"Hey Hoyt!" a voice I assumed belonged to his office mate, Davey McKinney, called from the other side of the room. "Show her the shirt" He yelled and Woody shook his head between mouthfuls of rich, butter cream frosting. 

"You show it to her! You got it!" Woody called back, swinging his feet lazily in front of his desk from where he sat balanced on the edge. 

Another guy pulled up Woody's chair and guided me into it. I smiled a thank you and sat slowly down in the rolling chair. I looked up to see McKinney weaving his way through the noisy office to where we sat. He smiled and pecked me on the cheek. He was a cute guy, late 30's; almost black hair and dark skin to match it. 

"How ya feelin' babe?" he asked in his smoky, thick, Southie accent. McKinney could get away with calling me that. After all, he was the big brother of one of my childhood friends.  

"Fine, fine, fine…now where's this shirt you two are so cryptically discussing?" I asked wringing my hands together.

 McKinney looked to Woody who reached to the other side of his desk where the presents were and grabbed a tiny little scrap of blue cloth which he flung at McKinney. When McKinney caught it, he turned it around and held it up for me to see. 

"Taddaa!" McKinney said with a grin and I read the little shirt with amusement. 

"Awww…..Daddy's little cadet." I said playfully slapping Woody's cheeks. 

McKinney turned the shirt around to show me the back. It said Emmy Jane across the teeny shoulder span and there was a large white shield decal with BPD written across it. 

"Emmy Jane?" I said raising an eyebrow at Woody who just smiled and went back to his cake. "Is that going to be my daughter's nickname?" I asked and another officer chimed in on the conversation holding up a cup of soda in toast. 

  
"Around here it will be!" He said and the rest of the office occupants raised their glasses in agreement. I shook my head amused and turned to Woody who was admiring me tenderly. I smiled back and then stood and kissed him. Everyone hooted and whistled. We smiled against each other's lips and then looked around the room bashfully. We stayed a while longer and then gathered up our gifts and said good-bye to the last of the partiers before heading home. We looked over the gifts with Dad before heading up to bed where I could finally relax with my thoughts. 

  
"Woody?" I said sleepily as I lay next to him in bed, my head resting on one of his strong biceps as his other hand lay protectively on my belly.

"Hmmm?" he said equally as sleepily. 

  
"Do you realize that the next time I go into the morgue, I am going to be a mother? And that there is going to be a little baby girl at home being doted on by her grandpa?" I asked and Woody was quiet for a moment. 

"I like that." He said and I knew he was thinking about the idea of knowing his baby girl was not going to be raised by a daycare, the mental image of my dad dancing slowly around the living room to a crooning Bing Crosby, with a little pink swaddled infant held securely by his large hands against his shoulder, already playing across his mind. I smiled and we drifted off to sleep together.

A few hours later, I was awakened by a gently tapping on my protruding belly. I opened one eye to find Woody propped up on his side, wide awake, and tapping on my stomach in the moonlight. 

  
"I think this is hardly the time to be checking if I'm ripe, Wood." I said irritated and Woody held a finger up to his lips. I looked at him puzzled and he pointed to my stomach. 

  
"Shhhhh…you'll scare her off!" he whispered sharply. I looked down at my stomach. Woody noticed I was a little lost and tried to give me an explanation.   
  
"The freak show has begun!" he said happily as our daughter, as if on cue, popped me one in the side with her foot and the shape of her little foot showed against my skin. I sighed and laid my head back on the pillow and Woody tickled the foot, causing it to pull back in. He laughed and waited for another body part to abuse my innards. 

"Do you two need me for this or can I try and get some sleep?" I asked and tried to roll to a semi-comfortable position. Woody seemed irritated by my reluctance to play and huffed. 

"Sorry." He said childishly and I whacked him on the head. 

"I hope you're this eager to be up with her when, you know, it involves diapers and teething…and…and feeding." I said and Woody shook his head. 

  
"Oh, no. Feeding is your department. I don't possess the ability to lactate." He said smugly. 

"But fortunately for everyone, you were blessed with two hands to change a stinky diaper and legs to walk around the house trying to calm her when her teeth are cutting while I do MY job and LACTATE…and while we're on the subject, this isn't 1950 farm boy, there's these great things called breast pumps, I fill them up, put the milk in bottles, those bottles go in the fridge and they last till right about the time Daddy's come home from work and can feed them to their children…or in the middle of the night." I said proudly and Woody sat up after poking at what appeared to be an elbow. 

"That's not fair! Feeding for the next few months is supposed to be YOUR thing! Like…with the…the bonding and the closeness and…and…where's the love Jordan?" he said coyly and I smiled.

"Oh I can still do that, but I am going back to work and it will have to be just in the morning and at night when I am home…late night feedings are up in the air…either of us can take them." I said and Woody sighed in defeat, finally leaving my belly alone and flopped back down on the mattress.  

I gave in to his pouting and rolled so that I was right up against him and my belly lay against his side. I felt him smile into my hair and I lay my arm across his chest. He wrapped his arms around me in surrender and I fell back to sleep. 

When I woke up in the morning, I popped up feeling Woody still next to me, and knowing that he was supposed to be in work already. It was 9 am. His shift started at 8 am. 

"Woody! Get up!" I said worried, sitting up and pulling at the collar of his undershirt. Woody rolled over and growled at me. He yawned loudly and snuggled deeper into the sheets, pulling the comforter up around himself. 

"No, no, no…I got the day off…shower present from the chief." He said groggily and I smiled. 

"Yay!" I said stretching and fell back onto the mattress with him and snuggled under the covers. 

We woke rested around 10:30 and Woody brought me breakfast in bed. While I ate and fed him bacon from my plate, I began to feel a rumbling I knew wasn't hunger. Being about 14 days from my due date, the thought never crossed my mind that I might be experiencing the beginning of labor pains. Woody hopped out of bed just as I was licking ketchup from the plate off of my fingers and announced that he was going to take a shower. I rubbed my belly and just nodded to let him know I was listening. He didn't glance back to me again and missed it as I set the tray down on the floor and began to run my hands painfully over my increasingly angered belly. 

"Oh shit." I said, cringing through my teeth as I carefully slid to the edge of the bed and made an attempt to stand up. Just as I did, I suddenly realized that I had rolled over a large wet spot on the mattress. 

"Oh shit." I said again, finally surrendering to the fact that my water had broken. I quickly turned my attention to the bathroom door and could already hear the telltale pressure of water through the pipes. Woody was already in the shower. I slowly crept to the door and pushed it open. I could see Woody's figure outlined behind the opaque, blue shower curtain. He looked so relaxed and at peace. So of course being in the kind of pain I was in, I couldn't let THAT last too long. 

"WOODY! GET OUTTA THE SHOWER, MY WATER BROKE AND I'M ABOUT TO BLOW!!!"  I yelled pulling open the shower curtain to find the man I was about to bring a little human being into the world for him to raise, making a pointy little goat-tee out of suds to match the soapy devil horns he had already fashioned on top of his head.  He looked terrified down at my belly and I could only see the sparkling blue of his eyes through the white suds. 

"You mean?! But you…14 days! 14 days!" He yelled tripping out of the shower and making a valiant attempt to pull a pair of jeans over his wet legs.

"Yeah, well…tell that to her," I said rubbing my stomach. "She's part Cavanaugh you know…we go where we wanna go when we're damn good and ready!"

 I through an undershirt at him which he yanked shakily over his wet hair and as I picked up the phone to call the hospital, he dashed back and forth across the room grabbing things to take with us. When I calmly hung up the phone after being talked off the edge by my doctor, I followed the trail of clothes down to the front door where I found Woody with a duffle bag and a baby car seat under his arm, my purse around his neck, and car keys dangling from his mouth. Dad, having heard the commotion from where he was working on his car out in the garage hurried to the door, took in what was a probably rather amusing site of the two of us, and grabbed the keys out of Woody's mouth as he took off for the car, yelling orders for us to follow. 

We were at the hospital in record time, especially considering the weekend Boston traffic. I had settled into a more bearable pattern of contractions by the time we were half way to the hospital, and I bided the time between breathing, sweating and praying that the kid would stay in until we at least made it to the front doors, by proudly watching my "boys" frantically dialing cell phones and checking and doubly checking everything they were bringing with us in the duffle bag and all but ignoring the person all of this fanaticism was inspired by who was sitting behind them in the car. Just as we were approaching the ER entrance, Woody seemed to remember that I was in the car with them and shakily asked me how I was doing as I was contorting my face in pain and a layer of sweat was quickly forming on my brow. I cringed through my teeth and gave him a sarcastic thumbs up. He took my hand gently and I could tell he was just as terrified as I was. This was after all the first child for either of us. Dad glanced at our entwined hands and in one swift motion pulled Woody's right hand out of my grip and then grabbed his left wrist and guided that hand into mine. We both looked at Dad puzzled. He glanced at us in the rear view mirror as he made the turn into the hospital. 

"Why did you…" Woody began to ask and Dad cut him off. 

  
"If you ever plan on usin' that right hand to do anything again, I think you'll do good to keep a hold of her with your left there, son." Dad said and Woody shook his head in slow understanding…just as I proved his point by nearly crushing Woody's left hand in my pain induced iron grip. 

We pulled up to the doors and a nurse was already waiting for us with a wheel chair. Woody tripped over himself numerous times as he stumbled out of the front seat and opened the door for me. He pulled me out hurriedly and helped me into the wheel chair before grabbing the bag out of the back seat, clothes and a few stuffed animals hanging out of it. The elderly nurse calmly took in the site of all of us, Dad trying his best to get the baby seat in the back, me sitting in the chair, panicked and sweating, a pair of sandals, black Adidas shorts, a white undershirt of Woody's and one of his oversized flannel shirts on, and finally, Woody with his still drying hair sticking up all over his head, wet jeans and undershirt and overflowing bag of crap and said, 

"Let me guess…first child?" She said with a smirk and we all looked at each other and nodded hurriedly. She smiled and turned me around, heading back into the ER. Woody followed dutifully and Dad said he was going to park the car and then wait out front for everyone invited through the phone conversations on the ride over to show up. They sent us immediately to the maternity floor and within 10 minutes of our arrival, the doctor was in to see us. 

"Good morning boys and girls." Dr. Donnelley said coolly as he entered the room, wearing scrubs and a cap. He handed Woody an pair of scrubs to change into and Woody kissed me quickly, assuring me he'd be right back and then rushed out of the room. Dr. Donnelley rolled up to my feet putting on his rubber gloves and explained what was going to happen. He asked me how I was feeling, how long ago my water had broken, made sure that I was still interested in an epidural, and then to try and calm me down a little, jokingly asked if Woody would be needing one too. I smiled through the persistently approaching tears welling up behind my eyelids and we shared a brief laugh before "Hurricane Woodrow" hurried into the room. Woody was at my side as the anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural. I was surprised that I nearly laughed during the procedure, except that I couldn't help the amusement I found in watching Woody clutch his childhood teddy bear to his chest in terror as the needle was inserted into my spine. When it was over I petted his head gently through the paper cap a nurse had tied hastily to his head. 

Dr. Donnelley, never one to pass up a chance to crack a joke, pulled a watermelon Blow Pop from his chest pocket and handed it to Woody after patting him on the shoulder. 

"Where's my lollipop?" I asked as they rolled me back onto my back, making me feel NOT unlike the beached whale I had been comparing myself to for the last few months of the pregnancy. Dr. Donnelley smiled as he jotted something down on my chart.

"Give it a minute or two and tell me if you didn't get the REAL lollipop." He said winking at me as he stood and headed to the room across from us, assuring he'd be back soon. 

When he came back in to check my dilation 3 minutes later, I was having some very vivid flashbacks to the chill time following some of my college drug experimentations. Dr. Donnelley sauntered to my side and I patted his arm. 

"I changed my mind, I don't care about the lollipop anymore…just give me a few of those to go." I said happily as I lay in bed, Woody holding my hand confidently with his right hand now. 

Woody smiled around his lollipop stick and the doctor smiled an 'I told you so' as he swiveled to my feet and pulled on a fresh pair of gloves. 

"Let's see how we're doing here shall we?" He said as Woody and I waited eagerly to find how much I had dilated. "Well, we've got a future Indy 500 driver here! We're already at 8 centimeters." He said happily and Woody kissed my forehead. 

"We should be introducing ourselves to miss Emily Jane in the next hour or so." He said and patted my knee. "Hey Pop," He said snapping off the gloves as he headed for the door. Woody turned his head to the doctor and raised his eyebrows expectantly. 

"You have some visitors out in the waiting room, how bout you go give them an update?" He said and Woody hopped to his feet with my approval and rushed out the door. 

I laid there, alone for the first time that morning and listened to the steady monitoring of Emily's strong heart. Even after the years of studying to be a heart surgeon, it amazed me that I was able to lay there and hear the beating heart of my daughter while she was still inside my body, waiting to meet the world. I smiled and glanced toward the door Woody had just exited through and thought of how lucky this child was to be coming into a world with so many people waiting eagerly, feet away, to spoil her rotten with gifts and attention. And then, as I knew it would eventually, the sadness at not having my mother with me to assure me that everything would be fine, and sympathize with my labor pains, finally hit me. I broke down in silent tears, looking up at the ceiling and praying that my mother knew of her namesake that I was about to bring into the world. 

I felt a familiar ache in my heart. An ache that I had felt when I got my first period, dealt with my first broken heart, had my first true love. A pain I had felt on the day I graduated from high school, and the first time I saw my name with the title of "Doctor" before it. A familiar pain I had felt more recently…like when I had met Woody and knew, but told no one, that he would one day be the man I would serve my heart up to on a silver platter to. A pain I felt when I learned I was pregnant and then shortly after, on the night before my wedding. And as I lay there, alone, listening to my baby girl's heartbeat, I cried and wished that my mother could have been there as I gave birth to my first child. Just as I was wiping away the last few hot, angry tears, Woody came back into the room, holding something at his side.

He smiled sadly, noticing my tears and more evenly strolled to my side and sat down beside me on the edge of the mattress. 

  
"What have you got there?" I asked sniffling and Woody lifted the flat, square object for me to see. I smiled longingly and took the framed picture from his hand. 

"Your dad said you almost forgot to bring her with you." Woody said softly and kissed me at my temple as I ran my fingers over the familiar picture of my mother, her hair pulled back by a floral barrette, her pose like that of a old time model. I felt Woody's strong hands on me as he rubbed hard circles into my back like the delivery nurse had shown him. 

"I can see where you got your looks from…not…not that your dad isn't a…a…handsome…guy." Woody said stumbling to recover his words. I chuckled and rubbed my contracting belly. 

"She would have loved you." I said and touched my palm to his sweaty cheek. "You would have made her laugh." I said smiling and handed the picture back to Woody who placed it on a tray beside the bed as Dr. Donnelley came back into the room, 3 nurses behind him. 

"So…Jordan, my dear, what do you think about pushing this kid out so you can take her home and let those folks out there get started on turning her into a brat?" he said light-heartedly and I nodded, a few stray tears making their way to my eyes. With my silent permission, the nurses rushed to work prepping machines and tools, even laying out a pink swaddling blanket next to my head. I couldn't believe it was finally going to happen. I was going to be a mommy. I looked over at my trembling husband and we shared a moment where we knew we each could tell we were thinking the exact same thing. Woody took my lips in his and whispered 'I love you' before taking my hand in his. I mouthed 'I love you' back and tears shined in Woody's eyes.  I have seen the movies, and heard the stories where wives threaten their husband's lives at the moment right before they are about to give birth; vowing the man will never be allowed to touch them again, or screaming for them to give birth to the child THEY put in her that was causing her so much pain. But, in the moments I readied to give birth, I could only look upon MY husband with a sense of wonder that we were there, in a delivery room, having known each other for a little over two years in which time we had unwittingly found each other, fallen in love without knowing it, married and were now preparing to bring into our lives a life for whom we would be completely and utterly devoted to raising together and spend the rest of our lives together watching grow, fall in love, marry and give us grandchildren. The unconditional love I felt for Woody in those pre-pushing moments are what today, keep me confident in my ability to continue giving this man a part of me no one had been totally worthy of receiving before him,  until the day I die and if possible, even longer than that. It is what leaves me with no doubt in my mind that for the first time in my life up to the point I met him, I made the right choice in accepting the feelings I saw, pure and untouched in that picture Nigel had taken what felt like an eternity ago.

As I was trying to imprint the memory of Woody's young, eager, hopeful face into my brain for future reference, I felt my legs being gently lifted into the stirrups and voices informing me that it was time to push. Woody took my hand tightly in his and prepared for the impending crush of his bones. God love him for his devotion and so do I. The next few minutes were a little fuzzy and mildly hectic as nurses rushed around and I had little idea of what was going on just below my waist. I remember Woody mustering up the nerve, at the persuasion of Dr. Donnelley, to take a look at the thick, dark brown hair of our daughter and I recall the puffing out of his chest when the doctor commented on her paternally inherited Widow's Peak. I remember the feeling a few minutes later as at the contradicting relief and emptiness I felt when the pressure I had been feeling for nine months was elated as Emily left my body, and then the fulfilling site of Woody, tears flowing freely down his face as he shakily took the scissors and performed his "fatherly duty" in cutting the umbilical cord. 

The next thing I remember is the tears of joy we both shared as we heard Emily's nanny goat cry from across the room as she was cleaned up. One of the nurses called for Woody to come over and he obediently hurried to her side. I watched mesmerized as he stiffened and then slowly turned to me, his total attention focused on the writhing pink bundle he held in his arms. Woody slowly made his way over to me and reluctantly laid the bundle in my arms. She was red faced and screaming bloody murder. Woody smiled and gently adjusted the little pink cap on her tiny head before placing his pinkie in his ear to clear the noise and announcing tearfully that she was most certainly a Cavanaugh. I smiled and tapped on the side of the small, plastic crib she would spend her time in the nursery in and Woody looked at it curiously. 

"Nah," I said sniffling exhaustedly, "She already has a last name." I said and Woody ran his finders over the printed card announcing a baby girl, the name "Hoyt" written largely in black sharpie pen under it. He smiled and returned his attention to Emily and I. The doctor congratulated us and shook Emily's little hand with his pinkie as the nurses cleaned me up and prepared for me to deliver the placenta. They gave me a few moments to hold her though and allow her to calm to my touch. When she had nearly finished her hot-tempered wailing, I toyed with the dark locks of hair that poked out from under the pink cap. Woody was watching her in awe, her eyes closed and unaware of the curious audience she was holding. Woody sighed heavily and leaned down close to her ear, hope that she would recognize his voice written plainly across his face, and whispered,

"Hey there, Sweet Pea…it's your playtime buddy, remember?" he said softly and her nearly invisible eyebrows bounced in sudden awareness of the voice. "But you can call me Daddy." He said happily as one eyelid peeked open and a one ice blue eye caught the overwhelming attention of two larger, yet matching ice blue eyes. 

"Ah-ha!" I said groggily and allowed Woody to lift her easily from my arms. "There's the Hoyt in you!" I said and ran a finger gently down the bridge of her nose as she drifted back off to sleep. 

Later, I lay in my comfortable bed on the maternity floor. I glanced around the room as I awoke and found myself alone. I looked towards the door and noticed for the first time that I was across the hall from the nursery. I knew this only by the fact that around the window across from my room, there stood a motley crew made up of the people I called my family, all of whom were bunched together, cooing and tapping at the window. 

"So how about a little attention to the lady who gave you that little girl to ooooh and ahhh over?" I called sleepily out into the hallway. Everyone turned around suddenly and filed into the room. I hadn't noticed that it was much later in the day, and only put it together when all of the Hoyt's filed in behind the others.

"OOO! Jordan sweety, she's beautiful!" Mrs. Hoyt said hurrying to my side and showering my face with kisses. 

"Thank you, Mom." I whispered into her ear and when she pulled back, there were tears in the magnificently blue eyes her son and first grandchild had inherited. She smiled and kissed my forehead. 

"That HAIR of yours, and those eyes of Woody's…"She sighed breathlessly and shook her head, overcome with adoration that could only come from a grandparent. "She's like an angel." She said holding my cheeks in her hands. A voice unexpectedly called out from the doorway. 

"I dunno," I heard Woody say as the group parted, allowing me the view of my husband, smiling down at our child, who was sleeping soundly in his arms. He looked up at me with a smirk and then playfully back down to Emily. "I think she's got a good deal of devil in her too…she gets THAT from her mother too." He said and he was hugged all around. Everyone took turns gently kissing the baby's soft, dark head and then passed her slowly around as we all chatted. 

"Woa…wait a second here…I don't do babies." Cal said as Nigel held Emily securely out for Cal to take. Nigel rolled his eyes. 

"She's ASLEEP mate, if she's not moving it's no different than…than…holding a sack of potatoes." Nigel said holding Emily out once again. 

"Nigel? Did you just compare my little girl to a lumpy burlap bag of edible starch?" Woody asked from where he sat, beside me on the bed, holding my hand. 

Nigel just shrugged and held the baby to his chest cooing again. 

After he was finished, he passed her off to Garrett who was holding her for the first time. He looked her small form over and gently toyed with her tiny fingers. I watched him, sure he was remembering when Abby was born. I watched him watch her with a pure love I had never seen in his eyes until that moment. Not even around a teen aged Abby. As I watched his eyes sadden, I thought I might later tell him that despite the things that went wrong with Abby, he had been a good father. Instead, I looked to Woody, silently asking permission to share what we had discussed. He nodded and I cleared my throat. 

"So, what do you think of my 'goldfish', Garrett?" I asked smiling, as happy tears once again made their way to my eyes. Garrett smiled proudly and looked up. His eyes were shining and I could tell he was holding back tears, with little success. 

"I think…she's wonderful." He said softly and a weak, emotional smile crept up on his face. 

"Good." I said as he carried Emily over to me just as she was awakening. Garrett stopped at my side, right in front of Woody and prepared to hand Emily off to him. I looked up at him holding her and smiled a coy smile. "Because we want you to be her godfather." Garrett's head snapped up in surprise and he looked from Woody to me and back, making sure he had heard us right.

When he was sure we had just asked him to be our child's godfather, Garrett opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He just stood there, continuing to hold Emily as he looked back and forth between the two of us, speechless. We just nodded together and Woody patted Garrett's arm before taking a fussing Emily for me to feed.   
"You're welcome." Woody said and Garrett stepped back. I looked around the room as all eyes were on me and the hungry infant laying against my chest, her small, rosy, puckered lips already instinctively seeking nourishment from me. Everyone was quiet as I sat up higher in the bed and hit the call button for the nurse to come give me a hand. After all, this was the first time I was breast feeding Emily and I really didn't want to mess up and traumatize her for life. Everyone continued to watch as Woody helped me to sit up and brought over a pillow for me to rest Emily on. 

"Okay," I said teasingly, "As much as I really like you all…and I know I am not the mot modest person in the world…but could ya…give us a few?" I said shyly and everyone embarrassedly left the room after one last look at the baby, and one last peck on her tiny cheek from my dad. The nurse came in a moment later and instructed me on how to breast-feed her. Woody watched from his seat beside me in quiet wonder of human instinct. After Emily had been suckling for a few minutes, Woody sighed and leaned forward on the bed to watch her closely. 

"Something the matter Wood?" I asked and ran a hand through his hair brusquely. Woody shook his head. 

"I just get the distinct impression that jealousy is going to be an integral part of the next few months of her life." He said and as if she understood, Emily's tiny hand came to rest possessively on the breast she had claimed. Woody chuckled and I let a throaty laugh escape my lips. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her head softly. 

"Don't worry Princess, I'm not moving in on your territory. Just as long as you realize you're just renting. I own the property." He said and I pretended to wipe a tear from my eye. 

"I'm so glad you're already instilling the values of 'women as property' in our hopefully future strong, independent woman." I said and rolled my eyes before returning them to my baby girl's sparkling, unfocused eyes.

"Hey, it's a good thing her eyes already look like diamonds, cause she's an April baby." I said and Woody seemed to miss the point. I rolled my eyes and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Birthstone?" I asked hopefully and Woody was still lost. 

"April's birthstone is diamond Wood!" I said rolling my eyes again as Woody cringed and let his eyes drop back to Emily. 

"Man, I have a feeling you're gonna keep me in debt for most of your teenage years baby." He said and petted her head gently again. Just as he did, Emily stopped drinking and hiccupped. Woody and I both laughed at the unnaturally tiny squeak and I passed her off to him as a deep yawn suddenly overtook me. Woody instructed me to get some sleep. I nodded and instead busied myself watching him as he slowly laid back in the slider rocking chair beside me, as a nurse passed by the room and winked at him sweetly. I think all of those nurses just adored Woody, I don't know whose cheeks they pinched more; his or Emily's. 

Woody settled back into the chair and propped Emily up on his shoulder as if he were going to burp her. He did, gently…a little too gently actually, but I was told by many of people with kids over the past few months that correcting or telling the daddy that he is doing something wrong, is a big no no…so I just let it go and he eventually did manage to get a few little burps out of her. He smiled after the last one and then settled her small body into the large crook of his arm. I smiled as both of them seemed to settle and all the tension of the day left their bodies in unison. Woody sighed and Emily cooed, swinging her tiny fists back and forth for no particular reason other than that they were there and moveable. Woody took one little hand and I watched as he performed what he probably assumed was one of his first fatherly duties and began counting fingers then moving onto the toes. I smiled in surprise, seeing Woody in a new light for the first time. I flashed back to the day I found out I was pregnant and how I had watched him childishly trying to balance the soda bottle on his forehead, followed by playing the drums with it on the front of his car. I remembered further back to the first time I met him and how sweet he was in that aw gawsh way. I remembered the first time I thought of him as something other than the cute farm boy detective who wore his heart on his sleeve as he told me in the Pogue that he could be complicated too, and rendered me nearly speechless as I realized how little I really knew about him. 

And then I lay in the hospital bed, watching him with his daughter, our child, and I was speechless once again in awe of how he kept unfolding like a flower. I found myself happier than I had ever been that this gentle giant beside me cooing over a barely day old baby girl, was not just a passing relationship, but the man I was determined to stick by and spend the rest of my life with. And for the first time in my life, I wasn't concerned with plotting the next point in my search to find my mothers murder. For the first time in my life something was more important to me, and oddly enough, it was the family I had found in the 23 years I had spent searching for the family I had lost. I smiled and finally allowed my eyes to shut as Woody began to sing softly and off key, a sweet little lullaby as Emily and I both drifted off to sleep. 

" Sit-ting here be-fore the em-bers, 

   watch-ing pic-tures fade and glow. 

   Seems as tho' the fire re-mem-bers

   Scenes of the long a-go. 

You with choco-late ring-lets stream-ing,

Dressed in knick-ers there am I. 

Just two kid-dies lost in dream-ing 

As we hum this lull-a-by. 

Cud-dle up a lit-tle closer, lov-ey mine. 

Cud-dle up and be my lit-tle cling-ing vine. 

Like to feel your cheek so ro-sy. 

Like to feel you com-fy, co-zy.

Cause I love from head to toe-sy

Lov-ey mine. "


	6. Of Course You Can, Baby

As always, Not mine, can't begin to tell you what I'd do with em' if they were! Madam Beth Pictures Never Lie: Of Course You Can, Baby… 

"Momma! Look at what me an' Daddy got!!" 

I looked up from my desk to see my soft angelic little 4- year- old shuffling towards my desk with a golden retriever puppy in bear hug, swinging it's back feet casually between her spread legs, it's shoulders almost passing it's soft head as it was being held by two little pudgy arms from under it's armpits. I folded my arms and raised my eyebrows. Emily flopped the puppy down on the floor and hectically pushed her long dark hair out of her eyes and behind her ears before adjusting her backwards Celtics hat. She looked up at me hopefully and when she realized I didn't share in her enthusiasm, her sparkling blue eyes widened. 

"Uh-oh." She whispered and pulled the puppy possessively back into her arms. 

Just as I was about to reprimand her, my husband came flying around the corner and smiled at me as he picked Emily and the puppy both into his arms easily. 

"Jordan! Heh heh…" he said smiling charmingly. "How's your day going?" He asked casually as the puppy began to excitedly lick his face and Emily giggled. 

"Just got more interesting." I said matter-of-factly and shifted my eyes towards the door. This was our code for 'get the kid outta the room so I can murder you without her hearing the screams' . Woody nodded and narrowed his eyes at Emily. 

"I thought I told you to wait for me in the hall?" Woody said quietly out of the side of his mouth. Emily just leaned back in his arms and looked at him like he was nuts. 

  
"Have we met?" She asked earnestly and I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. Woody put her down and patted her little faded jean bottom as he scooted her out the door. 

  
"Go show him to Uncle Nigel…"Woody said and Emily grounded her feet and turned her head to her father. "But he's 'Lergic ta dogs!" She called as Woody continued to guide her into the hallway. 

"Yeah, I know…and he's the one that reads you Clifford books and puts ideas of puppies in your heads…he'll love it…go show him!" Woody said excitedly and I rolled my eyes as he turned and slowly crept back into the room. 

"Hi." He said cringing. I folded my arms and sat back in my chair. 

"So you know those talks we have about making decisions 'together' Wood?" I asked and Woody smiled twisting his wedding ring nervously on his finger. 

"This was one of those decisions huh?" He asked and resigned himself to the couch in my office. I just nodded. 

  
"So what exactly compelled you to "just get" a puppy for our 4-year-old who can't pick up her own messes much less the messes of a dog?" I asked and Woody shook his head. 

"I…I don't know we were at the farm with her preschool class and…and…on the way out she saw a bunch of kids standing around something at the guy who owns the farm's feet…and…and…before I knew it she was dragging a little puppy towards me spouting out prices…and…and ages…and what kind of dog it was…"He suddenly remembered something and smiled the dreamy, butter smooth smile of an honest to God Daddy and said, "And…and then she said the CUTEST thing…" I rolled my eyes and said, 

"Uh oh." Every story Woody ever told me trying to explain purchasing something absolutely ridiculous for our daughter had the line 'and then she said the CUTEST thing…'. 

"She said, "Daddy! His name is Archibald J. Snuffaluffagus and he wants to live in my room!!" He said wiping tears of laughter away from his eyes. I snorted, trying to hide my amusement. She certainly knew how to get him. 

"And…and then she just bombarded me…'So can I get em' Daddy!? Can, I!!? Can I take em' home with me!? PLEEEEEEEEAAASSEE Daddy?" He shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair.

"I think I blacked out…the next thing I remember I'm saying 'of course you can, Baby' and handing 50 bucks over to Old MacDonald!" I couldn't help it. She got him. She got him good. I looked at Woody sheepishly watching Emily chase the clumsy puppy down the linoleum hallway. 

"Well…then I am not going to yell at you." I said closing a folder and standing from my desk. Woody snapped his head towards me. 

"You're not?!" He asked hopefully. And I nodded. 

"I think that it'll be punishment enough for you when you realize that YOU, a Lieutenant Detective, who deals with the scum of Boston on a daily basis…" I walked around my desk and plopped down on Woody's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck as he rolled his eyes, already knowing what was coming." And who has been known to keep suspects in interrogation for 10 plus hours, are no match for a teeny little girl." I said and kissed him, still smiling. 

Woody kissed me back and then turned his eyes towards the door. "Jordan." He said between kisses. 

"What?" I said holding onto the back of his head. 

He wagged his eyes toward the door and I snuck a peek at the threshold. Emily stood there, doubled over dramatically, two fingers in her mouth as she pretended to gag. 

"Can we help you with something baby? Are you feeling sick? Need some cough syrup?" I asked and Emily quickly stood and took her fingers out of her mouth. 

We smiled at her and she stepped into the room. 

"Where's Archie?" Woody asked looking out the door as Emily froze and her bright blue eyes popped out. 

"Aw come on!! Who peed on my floor!!?" we heard Garrett bellow down the hallway. He appeared at my door a moment later and Emily was hiding under my desk. Garrett walked in holding Archie under one arm. 

"Where is she?" He asked and I looked at Woody from where I still sat on his lap. 

"We don't know where Emily is Garrett…" I said and Woody and I both pointed towards the desk. "She was hear JUST a minute ago but…ah…now she's gone." I said as Garrett handed me the puppy and walked over to my desk. He leaned on the edge. 

"Emily Jane." Garrett said sternly. There was a moment where no one moved. 

"She's NOT HERE! She left a long time ago!!" Emily yelled from under the desk. Garrett reached under the desk and pulled Emily out by the back of her pants. He stood her up and she looked up at him smiling sweetly. 

"Did you meet Archibald J. Snuffaluff…" Garrett cut her off and handed her a couple of rolled up paper towels. 

  
"Sell cute somewhere else…We're all stocked up here." He said and Emily gave Woody and I an appalled look. 

"Daddy?!" she said and Woody shook his head and looked away.

  
"Sorry babe, he's your godfather…they're allowed to tell you what to do." He said and Emily slumped her shoulders and plodded out of the room with Garrett right behind her, tugging on the tips of her long hair from behind to let her know he wasn't really mad.

I lifted the puppy up in front of me and looked it over. It yawned and it's tail began to wag. 

"Archie, huh?" I said cutting my eyes at Woody. He just nodded and I shook my head and stood from his lap. I held the puppy up one last time and then put him in Woody's lap. 

"He's not sleepin' in MY bed." I said and headed out the door to supervise Emily. 

The next week, Dad was away and we worried we might have to switch off between who had Emily at work with them after she got out of preschool. One of our neighbor's kids was in Emily's class and she was nice enough to watch her from Monday to Thursday but Thursday night they were leaving for vacation and we needed to decide who would watch her on Friday. 

We ultimately decided that she would fair best at work with Woody because he was a Lieutenant now and spent the better part of his day in the precinct. And Emily's school was also only 3 blocks from the station. He could get her on his lunch break. Besides, she knew I worked in a morgue but she really didn't know that dead bodies were only feet away from her every time she came there. If she were to mistakenly peek under a sheet or wander into the crypt, it might traumatize her for life. Little did I know, having Woody go and get her could be just as bad.  

It all started because Woody was running a little late in getting to Emily's school. He knew to pick her up around back where the playground was and he trotted around the corner as he heard the laughter and giggles of other children waiting to be picked up. He was relieved that he at least wasn't the last parent, Emily always made it a point to lay the guilt trip on him when he wasn't at her school the exact second he said he would be. The first thing he saw as he went through the side gate was Emily's backpack lying against the fence. He picked it up and then searched the play yard for Emily. He saw her teacher kneeling beside a little blonde haired boy who was crying as she sprayed his leg with some sort of wound cleanser. The poor little guy was in near hysterics and the teacher was trying her best to calm him down, but in doing so, was neglecting to keep an eye on the rest of the children. Woody strolled over to ask the teacher where Emily was. She stood quickly and glanced around the yard. 

--------------------------------------

"She's…well…she was just right there on the see-saw I saw Fred standing by the fence, but he's harmless…"she said casually, pointing to the back corner of the yard. Woody's paternal subconscious kicked in and he felt his pulse speed up. 

"EMILY!" he called for her and several of the children turned their heads. Woody headed toward the back of the playground. 

"She just went with the man." One of the children said matter-of-factly. Woody's heart caught in his throat. 

"What man Sweetie?" he asked bending down to one of Emily's friends. 

"Fred… he lives back there behind the school…He's allowed to come in and read to us sometimes…he's funny." the girl said pointing to the alley on the other side of the playground fence. Woody looked over at the gate and noticed it was short enough for a tall man to reach over. He stood and ran towards the fence, hopping over it like it wasn't even there. 

He looked down one end of the alley and then the next. He saw a man walking down the alley towards the street. At his side was Emily holding his hand. Woody knew if he chased after this guy, he would probably just let go of Emily and take off running. That's what the cop in Woody told him. But unfortunately, the Dad in Woody thought maybe this guy would pick his child up and take off, never to be seen again. He spotted one of his officers standing across the street and slowly lifted his radio from his back pocket. 

"Michaels, this is Hoyt do you read?" He saw Michaels bring his radio to his mouth. 

"Yeah boss, I hear ya." He said casually. Woody took a deep breath and brought his radio back to his mouth. 

"I want you to listen very carefully Michaels, I want you to look across the street…there's a guy walking North on Walton…he's…he's got a kid at his side." Woody dropped his arm heavily to his side. 

"Yeah boss, I see him…hey boss ain't that your kid?" he asked concerned. Woody lifted the radio. 

  
"Yeah, he just lifted her from the preschool…I didn't wanna startle him and send him running off with her." Woody said and Michaels was already making his way across the street. 

"Don't you worry boss, I got em'." Michaels said and Woody could see him taking quicker steps. Woody hurried down the alley and turned the corner when he heard a commotion. 

"Hey what are you doing!!?" he heard a man that wasn't Michaels yell as he rounded the corner. Woody saw Michaels set Emily down from where he had the man pressed against the wall. Emily walked backwards slowly, beginning to panic and not knowing what was going on. 

"Emily!" Woody yelled and she turned to him. 

"Daddy!" Emily cried and ran to him. Woody scooped her into his arms and held her tightly to his chest. 

"You picked the wrong kid to swipe buddy!" Michaels said holding the man forcefully as he struggled to cuff him. "That little girl you took is the daughter of a Lieutenant Detective and MY boss." Michaels said and the man stayed quiet. Woody moved as quickly as he could away from the man, patting Michaels on the shoulder as he passed him. He set Emily down around the corner. 

  
"Emily why would you EVER go with someone you didn't know!?" He asked sternly but trying not to upset her. Emily had felt her daddy shaking as he carried her though, she began to cry. 

"But I DO know him daddy, his name is Fred! He lives behind my school…everyday we talk to him and…"She was sobbing and threw her arms around Woody's neck. He held her tightly and let her cry. She was scared, and he knew she would never go with anyone again. 

"He said that he came to pick me up and I told him my daddy was picking me up but…he…he said you couldn't make it and you told him to come get me!" She sobbed and wiped her nose and eyes on the shoulders of his suit coat. 

"But baby, we told you, you don't go home with anyone but Mommy or Daddy or Grandpop unless we tell you that somebody different is picking you up. You might have gone away and Mommy and Daddy would never see you again, and that would make us very, very sad. You know?" he asked fighting back tears of his own.

-------------------------------------

 Emily was now sitting on his knee like a chair and burying her face in his coat. She nodded against his chest and Woody stood with Emily in his arms. He opted not to tell me until that night. 

"SHE WHAT!?" I yelled across the table as we were clearing it from dinner that night. 

"Keep it down Jordan…she's already been reamed out enough today…and I don't just mean by me and Michael's. The captain and chief gave her hell and told me they were gonna send a patrolmen over to her school next week to talk to all the kids about strangers and stuff." Woody said taking some plates to the sink. I rolled my eyes. 

"I can't BELIEVE she would do something like that!…and for that matter…why the HELL did you wait to tell me this!?" I said looking to the stairs where I knew Emily was safe and sound in her bed. I wrapped my arms around my middle and shook my head, a million possible outcomes for what happened playing like a horror movie in my mind. I closed my eyes and a chill ran down my spine. Woody came from behind me and wrapped his arms around me. 

"Hey hey, it's alright. She's fine, a little scared but no worse for wear." He said and I pulled away I knew it was true but I couldn't help the concerns. 

"We gotta start learning to roll with the punches Jordy…"Woody said trying to laugh. "What if we have more kids one day?" he said and my eyes opened slowly. 

"I really don't wanna talk about this with you right now…I wanna go see my baby." I said and left him standing in the middle of the kitchen as I hurried up the stairs. I couldn't believe that he hadn't told me about this. He must have done something wrong for it to happen because he had even gotten Emily to keep it a secret. I crept into Emily's room and to the side of her bed. She was sleeping soundly, and I took her Sox cap off and laid it on her dresser. I watched her sleeping and then crawled into bed with her. I felt a chill run up my spine. I couldn't ever imagine losing Emily. Her and Woody were my life, I was thinking at that moment of taking Woody out, but I still loved him. I was sure he was late to pick her up and that was the big cover up he had talked Emily into. I wouldn't tell him that I was late picking her up MOST days, but I decided to let him sweat it out and sleep alone.

When I came downstairs in the morning, Woody was already up and standing outside the back door with the puppy on the leash. Perhaps, he'd never gone to sleep. 

I watched him, standing out there in his underwear…in October, and he looked angry, pathetic, not to mention cold…and oddly enough sexually frustrated. Hey, I had bailed on him last night. No worries, he would be "forgiven" by lunchtime. 

"When you bring him in you might wanna clean up the puppy poops he slipped by ya on his way out." Woody looked up at the sky and growled loudly. This caused Archie's ears to perk up and he bounded towards Woody yipping ferociously.

"Get in the house!" Woody yelled at the puppy as he shooed him into the house. I suppressed a smile, still playing angry. 

Emily came bounding down the stairs and slid across the floor, avoiding the little mess as she jumped up onto the kitchen counter and began opening cupboards looking for cereal. 

"I wasn't here when he did it! I don't have to clean it up!" she said with her head stuffed in the pantry. 

"Good morning to you too Miss." Woody said taking some paper towels from the counter. He looked at the mess then me then back to the mess and then to me again. I think he must have been trying to decide which he'd rather deal with first. 

"Jordan…" He said gently. I turned from my coffee to look at him. I didn't answer, just raised my eyebrows. He looked at me with that wounded puppy dog look and I just kept staring back. "Are…are we okay?" he asked seriously. I think he was genuinely a little afraid of what I might do. 

I allowed him a subdued smile. "We will be…" I said and looked down at the paper towels in his hand. "Once you clean that up." I said and Woody smiled. He walked over and kissed my lips gently. 

"I'm sorry baby," he whispered and laid his forehead to mine. "I'll never keep anything like that from you again." He said and I kissed him back. I smiled sadly looking at the floor. 

"Better not…" I said and smiled sadly. "Kick your ass." I teased and Emily chimed in.

"I heard the A word." Emily said sing-song. I growled and looked over at her. 

"And YOU miss…" I said placing my hands on my hips as Woody bent down to pick up Archie's surprise. "We need to talk about some things later." I said and Emily's eyes grew wide.   
  
"Is it the secret we can't tell Daddy yet!?" She asked excitedly. Woody looked up from the floor as Emily bound across the kitchen and climbed up my side. 

"Secret?" Woody asked looking at me hesitantly as he pulled a little garbage bag out of the pantry. "What secret honey?" He asked Emily as he placed the paper towel in it and tied the bag 4 times. I looked at Emily and shook my head.

  
"Bad timing girlfriend." I said and Emily bowed her head. 

"Jordan…" Woody said and I looked at the ceiling innocently. "Do you have something you wanna tell me?" He asked and I looked at the floor. 

"Well…it was…just that…it's a good thing your brushing up on your poop-duties." I said and a smile broke out on my face. Emily looked up, smiling too.

Woody was lost. 

"Huh?" he said standing frozen in front of us. There was a moment of quiet and the only sound was the morning breeze through the crisping leaves outside. I smiled. 

"I'm pregnant." I said and Emily bounced in my arms. 

"Isn't it great Daddy! We get a puppy AND a baby!" She said and I chuckled. "Huh Daddy, isn't it!? Huh?!" she exclaimed. 

"Baby, give Daddy a minute to think." I said and Woody nodded. 

"A…a…a baby? We're gonna have another baby?" he asked as his eyes filled with tears. I nodded and he stepped toward us and wrapped his arms around Emily and I. He laughed and pulled back to kiss us both. 

"Does it feel like a boy!?" he asked excitedly. I rolled my eyes. "Does it?! Huh Mommy? Does it, does it?!" he said mocking Emily who gently punched him in the shoulder. He grabbed her from me and turned her upside down, tickling her. 

"We'll see." I said joining Woody in tickling Emily.


	7. The World Champion Hoyts

Don't own most of them…well…maybe now the percentage has finally swayed to my favor…*wink* you'll see….

**Pictures Never Lie:**

The World Series Champion Hoyt's 

Three Years Later

"And if you'll come this way I'll introduce you to our newly promoted Captain Woody Hoyt who's office is right down…" The new Boston Police Commissioner looked down the hall as the click and roll of little plastic wheels screeched down the hall and Woody came barreling down the hallway sitting on a little blue and yellow tri-cycle he had just gotten for our little boy, John, who could barely even walk much less ride the little bike. John was on his lap laughing away and Woody's long legs were dragging behind him on the floor. He screeched to a halt in front of the little crowd of superiors and stood quickly wiping off his pant legs. He lifted John into his arms and nodded apologetically to his Chief. 

"I..I'm sorry Jim…I…I mean sir." He said shaking the Chief's hand stiffly with his free one. John smiled up at the newly appointed commissioner and treated him to string of raspberries. Woody's eyes widened with fear and he handed John to his former partner McKinney who saw the commotion and hurried to his pal's rescue, Walking away to where I was in the lounge. 

"Hoyt this is…Commissioner Tayte…Commissioner, this is Captain Hoyt…one of the…finest…" The Chief smiled and patted Woody on the shoulder. "cops and fathers in the city." He said and Woody released a breath. The commissioner smiled and offered his hand to Woody.   
  
"Good to see a family man in your position Hoyt. Makes me hopeful that you're as good to your city as you are to your family." Woody nodded. 

  
"Yes sir. I sometimes feel like my wife and I are helping to keep this city populated." Woody said and nodded to me standing just inside the officers lounge holding our newest edition, Chester, in my arms. The commissioner turned and smiled down at the swaddled bundle in my arms. 

"And what's this little fella's name?" he asked and Woody stepped next to me and pulled the blankets away to show off his gorgeous, dozing son. 

"Chester!" a little voice called out from behind me and 7-year-old miss Emily Jane stepped out from behind the door, hands on her hips where a little plastic utility belt holding a little badge, plastic gun, and a real walkie talkie hung. 

The commissioner chuckled. "Chester, huh?:" the older man asked bending down to Emily. "And who might you be?" he asked and offered her his hand. 

"EmilyJaneHoyt." She said and it sounded like one word. The commissioner smiled. 

"It's nice to meet you Emily." And Emily saluted him. 

"Going to be a police officer like your daddy here?" He asked gesturing to Woody. Emily nodded vehemently. 

"Uh huh…and John's gonna be a doctor, cause whenever Mommy or Daddy's sick, he puts on one of Mommy's scrub tops and puts rreeeeeaaaall wet wash cloths on their foreheads an' sticks the thermometer in their mouth." She said and Woody and I laughed. The Commissioner looked around the lounge and spotted McKinney holding John upside down in front of the candy machine, coaching the child in how to reach the candy without paying for it. 

The commissioner laughed. "Or a cat burglar." He said winking at me. 

"Nice to meet you Hoyt. I look forward to seeing you around." He said taking Woody's hand. He turned to me. "Mrs. Hoyt." I cringed.

"Ooo…ah, Jordan sir, " Woody said smiling. "Mrs. Hoyt is my mother." He said and the commissioner chuckled. He nodded and I looked menacingly at Woody. He didn't say 'Dr. Cavanaugh'. He was getting in his little dig about me giving up my job and staying home with the kids. Partly I think he felt like with his promotion, we were doing fine with money and I think he also felt like Dad needed a break. After all, my maternity leave was over up in another month, the idea of leaving Dad with a barely two-year-old, a 4 month old, and a hyper 7-year-old in the afternoons was looking less and less appealing. I think even to Dad. The day after Chester was born, Dad asked me if I would please temporarily shut down the baby-making factory. He had a point and I let it be widely known that Chester would be the last of the World Champion Hoyt's baseball team. 

"Jordan." The Commissioner said and waved to Emily. "Cadet." He said and saluted Emily, she saluted back. 

He continued down the hall for the rest of the tour. 

 -------

The next week, I decided that we should take the kids and all get a family portrait taken before I had to go back to work. 

"Jordan! Where's My dress tie!!?" Woody called from our room. I was in Emily's room, fighting with her to get her into a dress. "Last time I wore it!!…." I called back sarcastically and sat Emily down on her bed for the 8th time as I tried to get a pair of tights on her without ripping them. 

"Oh! Found it never mind!" he called back and I pulled the little blue dress over Emily's head. I stood her up and fixed her hair in the mirror.  
"So? What do you think?" I asked and Emily rolled her eyes. 

"At least it's not a GIRL color." She said and pulled her underwear and tights out of her crack in a very unlady-like manner. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, deciding that this was one of those parental pick your battles moments. 

"Put your shoes on!" I said as I left her room and rushed back into our bedroom trying to get earrings on as I did. Woody was standing in front of the full length mirror. If he didn't look so hot in his uniform, I would probably have cracked him upside the head. 

"Honey, I don't wanna make you upset" he said picking Chester up from the bed, "But why is he in a sailor suit?" Woody asked with a whine, "Is he joining the Navy…I mean…" He held Chester out towards me and I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. "Okay, no… I mean…he looks great…"Woody said pulling the baby back to him. As I turned to look for my shoes, I heard him say, "I'm so sorry." Quietly to Chester. "Keep going Wood…I hope you like the couch." I said as I fixed my dress in the mirror. Then I suddenly realized something. 

"Where's John?" I asked turning to Woody who was buttoning his uniform coat. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the bed where Chester was back squirming and reaching towards the ceiling fan. He thought for a moment. 

"Well…um…he WAS jumping on the bed a few minutes ago…" Woody said scratching his head. I scoffed.  
"Did you at least get him DRESSED?" I asked as I bent down and looked under the bed. 

"Ummm…I'm fairly certain I got a new diaper and a pair of pants on him…the rest is up in the air." Woody said as he hurried around the corner of our room into the sitting room that was just off to the right of our room. 

"Ah!…JOHN TYLER!!" I heard Woody yell from the room. I stood still for a moment, not quite sure I wanted to see whatever John had done. I decided to instead call out. 

"What he do?" I asked rubbing my temples and feeling a migraine coming on. Woody rounded the corner holding John out in front of him. 

  
"It's not that bad…just take us to Def-Con 3." He said and I covered my eyes, pretending for a moment that my son WASN'T painted like a Cherokee ready for war with my favorite lipsticks. I opened my eyes and looked him over. John had lipstick all over his chubby little belly, his face, his pants, in his hair. 

"He didn't eat any of it did he?" I asked and Woody narrowed his eyes. He set John down on the floor and knelt beside him. He squeezed John's pudgy cheeks together and looked into his mouth. 

"Nah…" he said and I just pointed to the bathroom door, hoping he would just go take care of it without asking me for help. Woody quickly removed his coat, then his crisp white dress shirt before stripping John and carrying him into the bathroom. I walked by door to go get Emily and make her come sit in our room and watch TV until Woody was through and on my way past the door I shook my head at the sight of Woody holding our naked son down in the bathroom sink and scrubbing lipstick off of him with a washcloth. 

"It's a good thing we don't look like we're raising wolves!" I said as Archie almost floored me on his way to our bedroom. 

"Emily! Go sit on our bed and watch your brother!" I said and Emily casually strolled into our room and hopped up on our bed next to Chester. I grabbed all of our winter coats and a new pair of pants and a sweater for John. I hurried back into our bedroom and through the clothes right inside the door. 

"Diaper!" Woody yelled over John's laughter as he dried him off. I picked up the one he had on and threw it inside the bathroom.   
"He drew all over this one!" Woody called. I picked Chester up from the bed and began to bounce him to get rid of the hiccups he had.  
"I don't care if he drew the Sistine Chapel on his diaper! As long as we can't see it in the picture it doesn't matter!" I yelled just as Chester burped and threw up in my hair. I sighed and looked at Emily who suddenly got that deer in headlights look and ran to get me a burp towel. When she came back she didn't say a word, just handed me the towel and went back to the bed and started packing a diaper bag for me. 

Just as I was getting the last little bits of spit up out of my hair, John charged out of the bathroom. 

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" He cried and I patted his soaking head. 

"Oh great now he's gonna catch pneumonia." I said and Woody came out to retrieve his clothes. He put his shirt on first and I helped him button the sleeves. He put his tie on next and I straightened it for him. I helped him into his coat and licked my thumb, wiping away a bit of lipstick on his forehead. 

'You have more grays than you used to." I said matter- of- factly. Woody smiled. 

"Well, I am 37…" he said and then winked. "And that would make you…" He said and scratched his chin. 

"Finish that sentence and I promise you'll never touch me again!" I said and patted his cheeks. He smiled and we turned to our little family. Emily was neatly organizing things to go in the diaper bag, and Archie was methodically pulling them out with his slobbery mouth. John was jumping up and down and smacking the TV screen yelling "Sponge Bob! Sponge Bob!" and Chester was chewing on the little sailor hat I had gotten him. Woody and I turned our heads and smiled painfully at each other. 

"We're never doing this ever again huh?" Woody asked me and I smiled. "We're never doing a lot of things ever again! Like going to that hospital floor that says "Maternity" on a little sign when you get off the elevator." I said and Woody nodded, took a deep breath and then called for everyone to get in the car. 

When we got to the studio, I went into drill sergeant action, seating people, handing babies. The way we finally ended up seated was Woody and I sitting on the two stools, Emily standing between us, John on my lap because…well…he's more afraid of me than of his father, and Chester balanced on Woody's knee, his back resting against his father's stomach. In the photo, which now sits on a table in the entry way to our home, the careful observer will notice the baby puke in my hair, the rose petal tint to portions of John's hair, and the large dark wet spot on Chester's sailor hat. Not to mention the fact that Chester is chewing on one of the large brassy buttons of Woody's uniform. 

I swore…well…yeah, I swore a lot that day, but I also swore there would be no more fruit bore of my loins. 

Two years later, we were finally beginning to regain some order in our lives. Chester could communicate, John could go to preschool, and Emily was just getting to the age where she was allowed to be out of our sight for more that 10 minutes. Unfortunately, Woody and I had to plan our love life around three young children and two demanding jobs. I even went as far as to send Emily to my friend Kim's for a sleepover with her little girl so I could have sex with my own husband who has 'issues' with having sex when our daughter was not 15 feet away sleeping innocently. That and there were no locks on our bedroom doors. If one of the kids saw that, they might lapse into catatonic schizophrenia and never recover. My husband, the drama king. I made the arrangements with Kim and she picked Emily up from school with her own daughter. Our boys luckily slept like the dead so we planned on taking them to the park and letting them run wild before dinner. 

I took Woody his lunch that day. Turkey and cheese on rye. 

"Oh, you know me so well." He said around mouthfuls of turkey. I was perched on the edge of his desk, he sat in his new chair with his feet up. I slid off the edge and onto his lap, playfully reaching for a nibble of his sandwich as he held it just out of my reach. I laughed and Woody captured my lips before I could get it. When we pulled back, both of us smiled. 

"Now, had we been at home, this would be the point at which one of the children would bang on the door, or John would be screaming from a nightmare, or one of our parents, with their flawless radar would decide to call and see what we were up to." Woody cut me off. 

"Well, it wouldn't be either of my parents. If you recall, they learned their lesson back when Emily was what, two?" He said and I rolled my eyes, remembering the night we had been fooling around and Emily was tucked away in bed, and his mom called. She asked him what he was doing… he told her. 

"Hey! She always told me to never tell a lie!" Woody said setting down the last of his sandwich and rubbing my cheek with his nose. I laughed and rested my hand on his thigh. 

"Yeah, well I think she would really have preferred that you'd have lied and said 'watching television' rather than 'having sex'. " I said and Woody chuckled and ran his hand up the outside of my leg. Then he moaned. 

"When do I get off work?" He asked playfully and I smiled kissing him. 

"At 5:30…And then we're gonna take the boys to the park…" I said and nipped at his ear. "And we're gonna run them like work horses so they sleep soundly…" I said and kissed right behind his ear. "And then…" I said and dropped my voice to a whisper. "You're AAAAAlllllll mine." I said and Woody picked me up set me down on the desk. He eyed the new leather couch beside us. 

"Hold that thought cowboy!" I said and raised my eyebrows at him. Woody pouted and gave me that innocent little boy smile, which even though his hair had begun to gray and there were a few more lines around his eyes, still swayed me into doing whatever he wanted. Even when I knew what he wanted at that moment had the potential to get him fired. 

"You're insane!" I said laughing as he carried me to the couch before running to close his door and dropping the blinds.   
  


"Yeah I know, I married you didn't I?" He said playfully as he loosened his tie and started to unbutton his pants. He stopped about 10 feet from me across the room and kicked off his shoes, leaving him in black socks. I eyed him curiously as I worked on getting my jeans unbuttoned. He smiled as he ran and slid across the floor on his stocking feet. I laughed as he flopped down onto me and said something about throwing out his back.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, we took John and Chester to the park. It was October and Woody strolled along the walking path dressed like he was headed to a J. Crew photo shoot. He was carrying Chester who had grown tired of walking. John walked beside me holding my hand, occasionally stopping to pick up a rock or acorn. 

"I love New England autumns." Woody said as brown and gold leaves rushed past him and around his feet. I smiled. 

"So THAT'S what kept you hear all these years." I teased as we stopped for John to pick up a pebble, which he shoved down into his now bulging jean pockets. Woody smiled and kissed the top of Chester's head, resting his cheek against the soft light brown hair there. Chester snuggled into Woody's coat and wrapped his little arms around his father's neck. 

"Yeah," Woody said and smiled at me. "That and a few other things." He said and I felt myself get filled up. My hand went instinctively to my stomach but I quickly pulled it away. 'None of that sorta thinking.' I thought as I recaptured John's little hand. 

"Hey momma! Look! It's Uncle Nigel!" John hollered and Chester's head snapped off of Woody's shoulder. Woody put Chester down and he and John ran down the walking path to Nigel, who was strolling towards us. Then we realized that Lily and Bug were walking not too far behind him. John went to Nigel who picked him up and threw him upside down over his shoulder and Chester toddled to Lily who picked him up and began chatting away to him. Bug walked alongside of her and Lily flopped Chester into his arms. Bug lifted Chester to his shoulders as they neared us. 

"Hey guys! What are you doing here!?" I asked suspiciously and The three looked at each other. 

Nigel spoke up. "Well, we received a phone call from you dad, saying that the two of you needed some emergency alone time." He said and set John back down on the ground. I looked at Woody. "So we're here to kidnap your babies for the night!" Nigel said making googily eyes at John and trying to look scary. John laughed and ran to hide behind Woody's legs. 

"Hey! That's great if you guys wanna do that for us but we already had…"I said looking bashfully at Woody who turned bright red. I suddenly remembered that the boys were there. "…Alone time…today." I said and smiled nervously. Nigel smirked and punched Woody's shoulder in a very manly way. He must have thought we were kidding. 

"Twice." Woody said as if it had suddenly just burst from his mouth. He smiled self-satisfactorily and Nigel's eyes widened. 

  
"What did you do shag on your lunch breaks!?" Bug asked jovially and Woody and I looked at each other than back to Bug. He was appalled. "What in his office?" Bug asked getting more flabbergasted by the moment. Woody shrugged his shoulders. Bug scoffed. 

"Three kids, man!" Woody said nearly pleading with Bug to understand what kind of circumstances we had been living under. "Three!" He said again, defending his actions. Lily chuckled and took Chester from Bug's shoulders. 

"Aw, but they're such great kids!" Lily said running a finger along Chester's dimpled cheek. He smiled adorably at her and buried his head in her shoulder. I rolled my eyes and mussed John's hair, remembering the vibrant shades of pink and red that had once graced his chocolate locks. 

"Yeah, I hope you have 10 just like em'." I said and winked at her. 

"But really if you guys are willing to take them off our hands for one night…or you know…till their in high school…that'd be awesome!" I said and walked over to Lily who was still holding Chester.

  
"Would you like to go on a sleepover at Uncle Nigel's tonight Ches?" I asked running my hands through his hair. Chester turned to face me and smile, squishing his face up like a pug. God did he look like his father. He nodded vigorously. I turned to John. 

"John Tyler?" I asked and he nodded as well. "Alright well if it's okay with Daddy then we'll just…" I turned to look for Woody. He was already halfway to the car yelling something about where the boys duffle bags were in the downstairs closet. We all followed and Nigel rode with us to get the boys stuff while Lily and Bug opted to go pick up some dinner for them before heading back to Nigel's. 

Nigel was in and out of the house in about 15 minutes, and strapping Chester into the back seat of our SUV for another 10. We stood at the door, waving talking baby talk, and saying we'd miss them as the car disappeared down the road. 

"Are they gone?" I asked and Woody peeked over the tall bushes of our lawn. 

"Yep." He said before slamming the door shut and pulling me against him. We stood in the doorway, kissing for a few minutes before Woody began to pull at my top as we backed towards the stairs. He grabbed a dog treat from the entry table and threw it down the basement stairs as Archie took off after it and slammed the basement door shut as he continued to back towards the steps. Woody cursed when he stepped on the sword of an action figure. 

I laughed and pulled my t-shirt over my head and threw it in the laundry basket as we reached the top step. I pulled Woody's shirt off as well and threw it with mine. I unbuttoned Woody's jeans and he pushed them off and then he helped me remove my own. I threw both in the basket as we backed into our bedroom. 

"Are we having sex here or doin' the laundry?" Woody asked aggravated and I chuckled. 

"Hey!" I said between kisses and caresses. "We're getting naked and cleaning up the house. Two birds, one stone." I said teasing as Woody hit the edge of the bed and fell backwards bringing me with him. He cursed again as he cracked his head on a game controller which he grabbed by the cord and hurled towards the television. He rolled me onto my back and I activated a tickle me Elmo which Woody also hurled across the room. I laid my hand on the inside of his thigh and he seemed to suddenly lose all the animosity he was feeling for our children's toys. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly one month later

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Woody was sleeping soundly next to me, and our kids were all in bed. Chester had just gotten his very own toddler bed and adjusting to it had become a hit or miss game of darts since the night he got it. He wasn't feeling very comfortable in it and was having trouble adjusting to having no bars to look through. I looked down towards my feet when I saw our bedroom door crack open and a little figure creeping in. I nudged Woody who rolled over. 

"Hmm?" He mumbled as I watched the little figure get closer to the end of the bed.   
"Chester's in here…it's your turn." I said and Woody sighed. 

"Are you sure he's in here?" He asked and two little eyes, as if on cue, popped over the end of the bed. 

"Well, either that or the leprechauns are coming early this year." I said and Woody rolled over and sat up. 

"Hey pal." He said and Chester smiled that infectious smile at him. Woody couldn't say no to Chester, he was the one who looked the most like him. He sighed and stood from the bed. Chester hopped up onto the end of the bed and Woody picked him up as he went out of the room. Chester wrapped his arms around Woody's neck and kissed his cheek. I smiled when I saw Woody's face brighten in the moonlight. It was then that I decided to tell him. 

  
Woody came back to bed about 20 minutes later, that love-drunk smile still plastered on his face. 

"What?" I asked knowing him well enough that I could tell there was something on the tip of his tongue. 

Woody scratched the back of his head. "He still does that finger nail thing like he used to do to you when he was a baby. It kinda hurts when you don't have nails." He said and chuckled. 

"Well yeah," I said rolling over to wrap my arms around him. "But the only way I could keep him from crying in the car was to give him my hand behind me in the seat and let him pick at my nails. It's very soothing and comforting to him. It means he LOOOOOVES you." I said and kissed the corner of his mouth. Woody was quiet for a moment. 

"You know…god strike me dead for saying this…"Woody said snuggling into me. "I almost miss them being that tiny." He said and I let that be my in. 

"Well…now that you mention it…" I said and Woody sat up, his 'ninja mode' as the kids called it, kicking in full force. He turned to me, his mouth gaping open. 

"You're not…but you…but we used…" I cut him off. 

"Not in your office." I said and Woody smacked his forehead. 

"Are you sure?" He asked turning to face me. I just nodded. 

  
"I can already feel it." I said referring to that tell-tale flutter deep inside of me. Woody sighed and flopped back down on the bed. 

"How do you feel about it?" I asked cautiously and he was silent for a moment. Then he sat up and turned on his knees to face me. I sat up on my knees as well and Woody wrapped his arms around me and laid his chin on my head. 

"…and whoever else should come along." He whispered and I remembered having said that the night we found out that Emily was on the way. I pulled back and leaned up to kiss his lips. 

And then he said what I knew was coming next. "So do you think that now you might finally stay home for like a year, maybe two?" he said and I sighed. It did sound really nice to maybe be with the kids for a few years. 

"Maybe." I said and Woody was happy to hear something other than a no on the subject. He nodded. 

"Works for me." He said and gently lay me back down on the bed and wrapped me in the all too familiar 'baby hug' which meant he was barely touching me. Dad said Woody treated a pregnant me like a china doll. We fell asleep together, until Chester came in once again and climbed into bed between us. 

In the morning,  I woke up to Chester laying across Woody's chest like plucked chicken. He was wearing his spaceship pajama pants, no shirt, and a scrap of fabric left over from one of the kids' Halloween costumes tied around his neck like a cape. I looked him over, sleeping soundly across his father, then looked at Woody who was awake. 

"It was one of the terms of getting him to stay in the little bed." Woody said and I nodded. 

"Good to see you've now begun bargaining with our two year old." I said and sat up on the bed. I reached out to run a hand down Chester's baby soft back. Emily peeked into the room and smiled at us, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling in the morning sun. I nodded and she hurried to the bed and jumped up with us. 

"Easy! Easy, baby!" Woody said and Emily looked surprised. 

"It's alright honey, just be careful Chester's still sleeping." I said and widened my eyes at Woody. Emily curled up next to me and I wrapped my arms around her. We all sighed in unison and Chester slid off of Woody and onto the bed between Emily and Woody. Woody scooched Chester closer and then wrapped his arms around all of us. Emily and I began to laugh just as the door was thrown open and John came hollering into the room. He let out a Tarzan yell as he sprung from the floor and landed on all of us. Woody grabbed him as Chester awoke with a groan and Woody began to tickle the boys. I calmed them down after a minute or so and announced that we needed to talk. 

"Uh oh." Emily said and sat up from the bed folding her arms. She adjusted her camouflage Capri sleep pants, and straightened her green thermal shirt. 

"What uh-oh?" I asked sitting up and Woody and the boys stayed where they were. 

Emily rolled her eyes. "Every time you say we need to talk, it means your gonna have another baby." She said and I glared at Woody who was trying not to smile. 

"Well…okay...so…so what if I am?" I said folding my arms. Emily smiled and bounced on her knees. 

"You ARE!!? Is it a girl!? Huh!? MOM!! Tell me is it!? Is it!?" She said and I stuck my tongue out at her.   
  


"Wouldn't you like to know!" I said and Emily rolled her eyes.

"Mom!" She said irritated.   
  
"Child, how should I know! I just found out it was on it's way!" I said and Emily hopped off the bed and ran out the door and down the stairs. 

John sat up and looked at me.   
"You're gonna have a baby?" And I smiled. 

"Uh huh." I said and kissed his forehead. John thought for a moment. 

"Is it gonna have to sleep with me?" he asked seriously and I sighed, the migraine feeling coming back to me. Woody sat up and dropped John down onto the floor. 

"Okay, time to leave mommy be." He said as John scurried out of the room. Chester yawned and stretched between us, crowding us to the edge of the bed. He remained spread eagle as he drifted easily back to sleep. I looked at Woody sympathetically from where he lay, clutching the edge of the mattress. 

"And we're going to ADD to this motley crew?" He asked and I smiled. 

"It's not ALL my fault…it takes two to tango Gene Kelley/" I said as I rolled out of bed and removed the cape from Chester's neck before lifting the covers back over his bare back. Woody kissed him at his temple and sat up from the bed gently. We met at the end of the bed and Woody took my hand as we headed down the stairs. 


	8. Look What I Made Ma!

**Not mine, can't begin to tell ya what I'd do with em' if they were….**

**Pictures Never Lie:**

**Look What I Made Ma!**

On the fourth of July in the year of our Lord 2013, I gave birth to my FINAL child. I, in keeping true to my promise that I was never again returning to a delivery room, gave birth in the back of Woody's 1968 Ford Mustang (which to this day he refers to as his "Pimp mobile").  The baby was born somewhere between our home and Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er was playing on the radio. We should have figured out then that this was going to be our rebel child. 

"Aw man!" 10 year old Emily said from the door as she strolled in and was presented with the "awful truth" that everyone had not deceived her, and the baby was in fact, another boy. 

"What a gip!" Emily said and crossed her arms over the number 12 of her soccer uniform. "First you have the baby during probably the most IMPORTANT game of my childhood life and…and then it's not even a girl!?" Emily said annoyed. She looked up from the baby in my arms to my sweaty angry face. 

"I mean…HE'S real cute Mom." She said before rolling her eyes and sitting down to pull off her soccer cleats and shin guards. Woody stepped over her to bring me another pillow in my bed. I had threatened him with death if he didn't talk the nurses into temporarily covering up the "Maternity" sign as I got off the elevator. Either he did it or I was leaving Father blank on the kid's birth certificate. 

"Here ya go honey." He said leaning me forward and placing the pillow behind me. Chester sat beside me on the bed occasionally poking and prodding the sleeping bundle in my arms. After he'd had enough of the abuse, the baby popped one eye angrily open. 

"Wow." Woody said picking Chester up and placing him on the floor. "Now THAT was a Cavanaugh look." He said pointing to the angry little scowl. 

"Gee thanks Sport.": I said and cut my eyes at him. 

"No! But look sweetie!" Woody said pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. "His eyes are dark blue! This one might get your eyes this time!" I made a tornado motion with my finger. 

"Woo hoo." I said characteristically LESS than exuberant. "Just took 4 kids and until I was." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "44 years old." I said and glared at Woody. He opted to change the subject. 

"So…What the hell are we naming this kid?" Woody asked leaning over the little boy curiously. He was trying to "see" what name he looked like. 

"Why dontcha name him "Ooops!" since he was a mistake!" Emily said grinning as she threw her shoes and guards on the chair next to where John was rocking feverishly on the rocking chair. 

Woody and I were speechless. "Who told you that?!" Woody asked placing his hands on his hips in a very father-like pose. "Uncle Nigel." She said matter of factly and sighed as she strolled over to climb up on the bed with Chester, the baby and I. Woody just shook his head and glared out at the waiting room doors, I was sure it was going to be another few minutes before Woody was going to let anyone in. 

"Emily Jane! You're brother was NOT a mistake! He was a…" She cut me off and pushed down the blanket to look at her new brother. 

  
" I know…I know…he was a 'surprise' cause a mistake is bad and a surprise is usually something good…" She said then mumbled, "And sometimes it's a boy…". 

"That's it!" Woody said swatting her to get off the bed. "Take Chester and John out to the waiting room and tell Uncle Nigel why I need to talk to him later." Woody said lifting Ches off the bed and holding the rocking chair still so that John could hop down. Emily took both their hands and we watched as they hurried to the waiting room doors and John pushed them open. Woody turned back to me and sighed. He leaned over the bed and kissed my head and then lifted the cap off the baby and kissed his head too. 

"Well, he has a mo-hawk already maybe we should call him Mr. T." Woody said trying to lighten my mood. I let a small smile spread across my face, but didn't let it reach my eyes until Woody took the baby's hand and squeaked out, 'I pity the fool!" We shared a laugh and then Woody sat down on the mattress next to me and took the baby from my arms. He held him up and he yawned. 

"With a rebel yell." Woody said chuckling as the baby stretched one arm out, making him look amusingly like he was pumping his fist at a concert while singing. I smiled. 

"Rebel!" I said and Woody looked at me horrified.   
  


"You wanna name him Rebel, sweetie?" He asked sadly. I shook my head. 

"No no no…but I do wanna name him AFTER a rebel." I said and took one of his little hands. "Jefferson Davis." I said proudly. Woody's head snapped toward me. 

"WHAT!?" he asked exasperated. I smiled. 

"He was a president." I said tickling the baby's tummy. Woody nodded. 

"Uh huh…yeah…OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES DURING THE CIVIL WAR!" He exclaimed and the baby's eyes opened and his mouth formed an 'oh'. 

I smiled and took the baby from him. "Uh uh buddy, this one's mine to name…you got AAAALLL the others. This is for me." I said and kissed his little nose. A doctor walked in just as I finished. 

"Someone in here need a vasectomy consult?" the doctor asked looking up from some papers. Woody's eyes widened and I smiled and him. 

"And that's for you!" I said and he shook his head.   
  
"Oh….no no no no no…" he said following the doctor out the door. I laughed and laid Jeff in my lap. 

"Hi Jeff…well…I guess you better milk this baby thing for all it's worth…" I said and he yawned again. "Cause you're it kid…" I said and he began to coo. "I'm getting to old for this shit." I whispered and he swung his arms. I picked at his hair. Woody was right, he did have hair in a pattern that looked distinctly like a mo-hawk. 

"So…" I said holding his little hands. "You were born in the back of a car…the first voice you heard was Robert Plant's singing …you've got a mo-hawk…" He yawned with a squeak and I smiled. " And a rebel yell." I said running a finger over his chapped little lips. "We're gonna hafta watch out for you the most aren't we? I'll have to check with your Daddy on that one. I was an only child, he understands what it's like to deal with a 'baby of the family' better than I do. And if you're uncle Cal is any indication, we're certainly down for a head of white hair before I'm 50." I said as his lips searched hungrily for me. 

  
"Yeah, yeah…I know the drill." I said holding him to my chest as I pulled up the t-shirt I had changed into. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

19 years later

Today is the beginning of a whole new time of Woody and my life together. Today he's retiring from the force as Chief of Police. All of the kids are out of the house, not far out of the house but out of the house just the same. 

Emily just passed the detective exam and requested placement in the same precinct her father had begun at. 

"Congratulations Daddy!" I hear Emily say from the front door on the other side of the wall as I stand looking at the only family picture I would allow to be taken after Jeff was born. 

I stood by my promise that we would never again have a professional family picture taken. In this one, which Nigel also took, we're just being ourselves. No seating arrangements, no drill sergeant orders. The picture was taken during Jeff's 3rd birthday and we had a huge block party for him. All the neighbor's came, some that I've known my whole life. Yes, we stayed in the city when we moved out of Dad's place when Emily was about 2 and a half. We thought of moving to the burbs, but it would be a little longer a commute for Woody and, well, I just never saw myself as cut out for suburbia. My kids still got all they needed and I even got to teach the first few how to play stickball on the street while still allowing traffic to proceed through. I can't help laughing as I look at the picture. Woody is sitting in the middle of our couch, laughing and red faced with his bare feet Indian style on the cushions. Chester is up on his shoulders, his light brown hair darkened from a water balloon fight outside and his arms wrapped tightly around his fathers chin. My dad is sitting on the end of the sofa, little Jeff on his lap, each with identical smiles. Emily, a young teen by this time is sitting between her father and grandfather, her head resting tenderly against her grandfather's shoulder and hand resting on his knee. Boy did I get dethroned when that child was born. On Woody's other side, I'm sitting, laughing as Woody is and trying to hold 5 year old Chester up on his father's shoulders, all the while keeping an arm around John who's beside me. John, my little angel. I am sure even looking at it now, that John was wise well beyond his years. When he hit the age of six something just turned in him and he became very calm and pleasant. His demeanor became laid back and reflective. And he was smart. Very smart. 

As I look up from the picture I can't help but swell with pride as I see myself reflected in the glass frame of John's college diploma. He graduated 4th in his class from Harvard. He's just finished up Med school and is working on a surgical internship at Mass General. He lives in a rented apartment about 4 blocks from our home and takes the bus to work each day. Because he hasn't got a job, we're paying the rent on the apartment right now and John consistently reminds us that he will absolutely pay us back the money. 

"Dad," I hear Emily's warning voice from the other side of the wall and decide to listen and see what happens. "Say hello to Brian." She says sternly and I hear Woody clear his throat. 

"I was going to, don't patronize me little girl." He says playfully and I peek around the corner to see Emily's fiancée hovering frightened in the doorway. 

"Um..Hel..hello sir….congratulations." Brian says taking Woody's hands firmly. Woody smiles politely and nods. 

"Thank you son, so how's things at the county fridge?" Woody asks and Brian smiles, running a hand through his hair. 

  
"Fine sir, just as much fun as I'm sure it was when your wife was there." He says visibly relaxing. Woody pats his shoulder and leads them both inside.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Woody was shocked when his daughter began dating one of our local M.E.s. 

I had just smiled and winked at him as we watched them walking hand in hand down the street together. 'maybe he's got a thing for cops?' I had suggested and Woody harrumphed and headed up the stairs to our room. I chuckled as I watched Emily wrap an arm around Brian's middle and him do the same to her.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Woody is just about to close the door when he stops at hearing John's voice at the door. 

"Hey! Easy Pop!" John says pushing the door open gently and smiling at his father. Woody smiles and takes John in his arms. John is a good 2 inches taller than his father, and he looks just like his uncle Calvin did once upon a time. "I haven't been away long enough for you to change the locks on me have I Pop?" he says patting his father on the shoulder. Woody laughs and takes John playfully by the back of the neck and drags him into the house. 

"Whoa! Wait! Aren't you forgetting somebody?" Woody asks as John turns back to the door where his new girlfriend Christine is standing. I decide to come out of hiding now. 

"Hi sweetheart!" I say hurrying to the door and hugging Christine. She holds me tightly for a few moments. Christine came from a small family and a broken home, being around us was like Christmas every day to her. 

"Hi Mrs. Hoyt!" she says and kisses my cheek. I take her face in my hands for a moment. 

"How are you doing sweetheart?" I ask and she smiles at my concern. 

"Good…umm…we…that is John and I are….uhh…thinking of moving in together!" she says and I smile. "Good, then he can get a job and start paying the rent!" I say laughing and put my arm around her as we follow everyone into the kitchen. 

I take out some coffee cups and am about to pour everyone some coffee when there is a knock at the door. I hurry to the door, hoping that it is another of my boys. When I reach the door and pull it open, I smile and hush my son Jeff, who is standing just outside. 

"Who is it Babe?" I hear Woody call from the kitchen and I smile. Over thirty years of Boston has given him a bit of an accent. An accent which all of our children have. 

"I'll be right there, Dear!" I holler and gesture for Jeff to come in. He smiles and wraps an arm around who I assume is the young bride he's been writing of for the past year since he graduated high school and took off on those nomad feet of his to play guitar in a band in California. We aren't thrilled that he has married so young and without us there to see him, but we understood. Jeff marched to the beat of a different drummer than all the rest of our kids. We slowly creep down the hallway and I smile at Woody, tears filling my eyes. He narrows his eyes at me, and I step forward. 

  
"Woody. There's someone our youngest child would like you to meet…" I say and step out of the way. 

"Well," Jeff says stepping forward and placing a small bundle in his father's arms. "Actually, two people I'd like you to meet." He says, his still boyish face lighting up proudly as Woody's eyes fill with tears and he takes his first look at his first granddaughter. He is speechless. 

I walk over to stand next to my husband. He's practically paralyzed. I gently lay my hand on the baby's chest as she stares up at her grandfather with her huge, hooded, crystal blue eyes. 

"Look what I made Ma!" Jeff says pushing his bangs out of his hazel eyes. I smile at him and lay a hand on his cheek. 

"She's beautiful baby…and I'm gonna take her for myself because YOU were supposed to be a girl!" I say smiling through my tears. 

"HEY!" Emily chimes in as she strolls over to check out her first niece. I lay a hand on her back as she oo's and aw's over the little girl. 

"So, little brother do we get to know her name yet?" Emily asks as Woody holds the baby closer to his chest and she grabs onto one of the large brassy buttons on his dress coat. 

Jeff smiles as he takes the baby's hand along with the hand of his new bride. He smiles shyly at me. 

"Jordan Marie." He says and his young wife smiles. 

"We really like that name." She says and I can now put a face to the voice I have talked to for the past year. I smile and wipe a few tears from my eyes as Woody regains some consciousness and hands the baby to me. 

"Jordan." I say looking down into her face as she studies me. "It suits her." I say and kiss her light, baby soft hair. Suddenly, I hear the door open. 

"HEY! Where the Hell's everyone at!? We got partyin' to do in a few hours!" I hear my second son's jovial, Boston accented voice call from the other room. He sounds just like my dad. I smile sadly as he pops his head around the corner. But Lord, does he look like his own father. He flashes me that thousand-watt smile an then his eyes pop open when he notices the baby in my arms. 

"MA!" he says walking over to me and putting his hands on his hips. "You guys didn't even tell us 'we needed to have a talk' this time!" Chester says as a smile breaks out over his face.  I smile and smack his arm as he takes the baby from me. 

"So? This is my little niece…" he says and wraps an arm around Jeff's neck and kisses his head. 

"Nice work little boy! Now how exactly are you planning on feeding this thing? I hear the funny thing about internships in a recording studio, is that you don't get PAID for doing them." He says bouncing the baby in his arms. Jeff scratches the back of his head and laughs. 

"Hey! Take it easy, those aren't break proof and that's an original, one of a kind! And…and…I got a job thank you very much, they gave me a job as a DJ on one of the most popular radio shows in LA!" He says and we all gasp. 

"Oh honey that's great!" I say and hug him then his wife, Tara. Just as I pull away, I hear what one might assume is an angry heard of elephants, but I know is just my 2 young grandsons clambering through my living room. They blow through the room like a tornado, the younger, 2 year old Patrick, making a beeline for his Pop-pop. Woody lifts him easily with one arm and he wraps his legs and little arms around Woody's neck just like his father had. Tommy, only a year older, goes immediately to his daddy. 

"Hey you little monkeys!" Chester says turning his son upside down and lightly tapping his belly like he's playing bongos. "Did you help Mommy carry anything in?" Chester says and looks to the doorway, where his wife stands angrily, holding their infant son, Matty under one arm and in the other two diaper bags and several toys. His eyes widen as he sets Tommy down and hurries to the door. 

  
"Jesus Mary and Joseph, Kate! Why didn't you call for me!?" Chester says as he takes the toys and diaper bags from her. She just glares at him and carries Matty into the kitchen, passing him off to the closest person and then cracking her stiff back. 

"Honey," I say setting my free hand on her arm. "I think we need to talk about temporarily shutting down the baby factory…trust someone who's been there." I say and Kate smiles at me appreciatively. Woody smacks Chester on the back and whispers to him, 

"Just don't let her talk to any doctors alone or you might find yourself having a little of your…ahem…dignity removed." Woody says and winks at me. I roll my eyes and tell Kate I'll try and find a card for her. 

"Aw! Is this the new baby!" She says noticing little Jordan for the first time. I just nod and place the baby in her arms. 

-------------------------------------

We arrived at the party for Woody's retirement. It was held outside under an enormous white tent in the park. The same park we had taken our kids to when they were young. When we entered the tent, there were hundreds of people there to congratulate Woody. They all stood and applauded when he walked in and he removed his hat and smiled shyly down at it. He still had a little of that farm boy charm in him, even if he was just shy of sixty years old. He looked around the room at all of his friends, and among them spotted some family. His brothers and sister all made it to the party. Even his 82 year old mother made it. He stooped to kiss her and was smacked on the back from behind. Calvin. 

"Congratulations old man!" Calvin said smiling as Woody turned to him. 

"Hey ! I can't believe you all made it!" Woody said as he hugged each of his siblings. 

"Hey, well you named one of your kids after ME…why wouldn't you think I'd come?" His brother John, now in his 30's asked, wrapping an arm around me. 

"Awww…sure we did sweetie." I said rolling my eyes as John searched the little crowd of family trying to figure out why the joke seemed to be on him. 

"Hey, but I gave my kid your teddy bear!" Jeff said moving to the front of the little group to show off his wife and little girl. 

"Hey! If I remember correctly," Emily said, hands on her hips, "I was the one who gave YOUR daughter John's teddy bear! Because it was MINE for awhile afterall." She said and everyone laughed and Jeff just shrugged his shoulders. 

Woody greeted his friends and former co-workers before we sat down for some dinner. There were speeches made, roasts of Woody by his closest friends and then finally, it was Woody's turn to give a speech. Everyone raised their glasses and called for Woody to step up and speak. I knew that when he teased that he hadn't prepared a speech he was telling the truth. He never really did have a way with words, it was what came from his heart that was most sincere. He shyly stood from his seat, all of his family sitting beside him.

"Well…ah…first I just really wanna sincerely thank you all for coming today. I uhh…I value each and every one of you as family, and I uh…just thought you should know that…but ah,…I'm sorry, it takes me a little to get things like this out, I'm not real good with words…just ask my wife." He said and everyone chuckled as I nodded teasingly. "But really, I just…I treasure all of you. I really mean that. As many of you know…and…my mother can tell you," he said nodding to his mom seated on the other side of him from me. "Boston…wasn't my first choice of places to work when I left Wisconsin. But looking back at all of the friendships I made when I started at the 19…" He said and got a couple of hoots from his old buddies towards the back of the tent. "And…the woman I had to chase and…and finally talked into marrying me…" he said and took my hand gently beside him. "And seeing my four great lookin' kids all hear with my even better lookin' four little grandkids…I know that this was where I was meant to be." He said and I could feel my eyes filling up with tears. The kids all chuckled and Chester's little boy Tommy, made shy by all the laughter, hurried to Woody's side and he picked him up in his arms with a smile. 

Woody turned back to the crowd and smiled at all the faces right up front. "I made lifelong friends of the quirkiest buncha folks I ever met." He said and pointed with his free hand down at the table where Lily, Garrett, Bug, Nigel and Peter all sat. Nigel, his hair shorter and nearly pure white, and his body and face filled out a little with age, making him look more distinguished, winked at Woody. Woody smiled back. 

"You know…"Woody said looking briefly at me. "I was on a case in LA once…and….uh…this was before Jordan and I had ever dated, she was worried I might come under that California spell and just stay…so she, she got on a plane and flew 3000 miles just to make sure I was coming home. Home. That was the first time since I left Wisconsin…that…uhh…the picture in my head of home was my little one bedroom apartment with a view of a billboard advertising Guinness." He said and everyone laughed. "She told me…"Home is right behind you." He said and then looked along the table at me, then Emily beside me, holding Brian's hand under the table. John with Christine, and I thought I might have caught a glimpse of his eyes briefly twitching to John's hair with a smile, probably remembering as I often did, the lipstick incident. He looked to Chester, certainly no longer small enough to climb up on his shoulders, and to his little boy Patrick sitting happily in his lap. To Chester's wife Kate, gently rocking little Matt. To Tommy in his arms and finally to Jeff, little Jordan asleep in her carrier on the table. He looked along the other side, to his mom, his sister Chrissy, brother Matt, "Little" John. Calvin sitting proudly at the end of the table with his own wife and 2 kids. Then he sighed and looked up at the rest of the people in the room. 

"And uhh…she was right. I turned around and there she was. And ever since that day…home has been wherever she and the rest of…my family" he said gesturing to our loaded table and the rest of the guests. "have been." He said. And everyone clapped. "It just so happens that home is more a state of mind than where you lay your hat…Jordan's ….father, Max Cavanaugh, God rest him… told me that one night over a couple beers at the Pogue. He said, "Woodrow, home isn't just where you lay your hat, home is wherever you walk in the door, and all you see are those faces that remember your own. And all those faces are smiling because they're happy to see you, and you know you're loved. That's the key to home Son," he said, "Not that shiny piece of metal you got hanging on your belt there." Max was a smart man." Woody said and I felt a few stray tears streak down my cheeks. Woody looked down at his oldest grandchild in his arms. He smiled at the only great-grandchild my dad got to know, and coincidentally, the only one who looked like him. Woody brushed Tommy's blonde bangs out of his soft, laughing eyes and smiled at him. He placed a kiss on his head and set him down in my lap. 

"And…uhh…a lot of the good that's in me today is because of the things I learned from Max Cavanaugh. Through his examples, good and bad, I learned how to be a good cop. And I am eternally thankful for the experience of knowing him. And I am even more thankful to him for having such a beautiful daughter for me to marry." He said and everyone chuckled. "But uhh…honestly. Thank you. Everyone, for making me a part of this city and umm…always remembering my face, whether you were happy to see it or not." He said with a smile as everyone stood and clapped. He thanked everyone again for coming. 

"Alright, alright enough with this stuffy, mushy atmosphere…I know a great bar we can head to," Woody called to the crowd and everyone raised their glasses and cheered. Woody glanced down the table at Chester who smiled. "And I'm pretty sure the owner won't mind renting the place out to us for the night." Woody said smiling and Chester rolled his eyes and nodded. 

"Hey, so is that why you married mom? Cause you knew one day Grandpop would hand the bar over to his FAVORITE grandson and you would get free booze for the rest of your life, Pop?" Chester asked jovially as we all headed for the door. Woody patted Chester on the back and took little Patrick from his arms.   
  
"Can't get nothing past you can I Ches?" Woody asked laughing as we headed to the cars and he lifted Patrick to his shoulders. 

----------------------------------------------------------

I watch Woody, sitting at the bar with his feet up across two stools beside him, Patrick asleep on his lap, head resting gently against his granfather's still pretty flat stomach. 

"You better not put any weight on or you won't be able to do that with any of the other grandbabies." I whisper as I wrap my arms around Woody's neck. He looks more comfortable now that his coat is thrown across the back of a chair in the corner and he no longer has his hat or tie on thanks to our rambunctious grandson, who is running around the room pretending to shoot people with his .22 caliber "pointer finger". Woody just smiles and lifts what's left of his beer to his lips and sips it. He rests his hand across Patrick's back and rubs gentle circles. 

"I meant every word of what I said today, Jordan." He says and I sigh brushing Patrick's caramel colored hair out of his closed eyes. 

"Oh sweetheart, you don't need to tell me that, hell, you didn't need to tell anyone in that room that. You're a good man." I say and kiss his familiar lips softly. "We knew where you belonged FAR before you realized it." I say and run my hand across his cheek. He smiles and Nigel calls for our attention. 

I look over to where he's sitting and realize he's holding a camera. "For old times sake?" He says winking at Woody and I. I just smile and call all of the kids over with us. 

Chester scoops up Tommy who still has Woody's hat on his head, and lifts him to his shoulders. He calls his wife over and she carries baby Matt over to the bar where Chester is already standing behind the counter with Tommy still above him. I sit down on the stool beside Woody and He spins, trying to not wake Patrick, and adjusts the small child to lay with his back against Woody's chest. Brian takes the stool beside me and Emily sits leans back into him as he wraps his arms around her. I look for John and Christine and they are already mirroring Emily and Brian's position on the stool beside Woody. Next to them, Jeff's wife sits on the stool holding a sleeping little Jordan while Jeff stands beside her stool with his arm around Tara. Woody's mother slowly makes her way up to the front, where she rightfully belongs, and stands between Woody and the stool where Christine is leaning into John. Calvin makes his way back behind the bar and his wife, son and daughter join him as he wraps an arm around his wife and the other around his daughter. Matt, Chrissy and little John Hoyt also join the crowd as Nigel backs up to get the whole group in the picture. 

"Alright! Are we ready!? Saaaaaay Pogue Mahone!" He says and our kids laugh, getting the joke as the flash on Nigel's camera brightens the room. 

What's Pogue Mahone mean, Daddy?" Tommy asks from Chester's shoulders where he is still trying to get Woody's completely oversized hat to fit his head. Chester chuckles and shrugs his shoulders at me as if to say, 'he's gonna figure it out eventually.' And sighs. 

He spins Tommy down off his shoulders and holds the little guy's ear to his mouth. 

Tommy's eyes go wide and he puts a hand over his mouth and laughs. I can't help but ask what his father's told him. 

"What he say baby?" I ask and Tommy smiles. 

"It means 'kiss my ass!' " he says and giggles as Chester puts him down and everyone laughs as he again tries to right his grandfather's hat. 

"Hey! You could get arrested for impersonating an officer there, chief!" Woody says taking the hat off of Tommy's head as everyone gathers around for the last drinks.

He replaces the hat on Tommy's head trying with little success to get it to fit. 

"But not if I'm gonna be a cop…like..like you Pop-pop!" Tommy says and Woody smiles proudly and winks at Emily. 

"I'm sure you will be buddy, I'm sure you will be." Woody says as he lifts Tommy onto the bar and Garrett presses the button for Finnegan's Wake on the jukebox. We all gathered around to watch as Chester takes Tommy by the hands and dances him across the bar as everyone claps in time to the music. 


End file.
